Avatar of Andre Valias

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Recent Statuses

4 days ago
Current ‘I’d like to see a Colovian sky one last time before I die.’ – Bloodies-His-Face, when asked what he’d want to do before the end.
5 yrs ago
"Yeah I've been dancin' with the devil, I love that he pretends to care." MARINA, Forget
1 like
5 yrs ago
"It is a double pleasure to deceive the deceiver." Machiavelli
4 likes
8 yrs ago
"A true dragon knows no fear."
8 yrs ago
"Tell me something I can hold on to forever and never let go." - "Let go." Adaline Bowman and Ellis Jones, Age of Adaline
2 likes

Bio

I need to be stopped.

My TES Archive, about a dozen Argonians live rent free in my head. Posts at least once every day at 6pm (AEDT): conversations, quotes, letters, excerpts.



Stops and Bloodies, my beloved

I've published an origin story for Bloodies, if it pleases you.

Most Recent Posts

When the briefing adjourned, Alexei was probably one of the first to leave. Still holding his helmet under his arm, he stopped near the door and waited for one of the pilots who raised issue against going to the bar. He was interested in socialising with a kinsman, if anything; sure Alexei's family had lost reason to speak their lost language over time since they first emigrated to the country-- Spare small phrases for fun and others mantras of honour. But they kept their accent, albeit faint, and Alexei could detect it in the voice of the pilot who commented on intoxication doing little beneficial for combat ability. At least, Alexei wanted to believe he detected an accent.

When he saw the pilot come along, he walked alongside him with a light smile.
"Parlez vous Francais?" He began, with an ironic fluent confidence. "Forgive me if I'm mistaken; I thought I heard a hint of a familiar accent in your voice. I am Alexei d'Vexille, of the Southshell Alliance." He introduced himself politely. He hoped he wasn't being too presumptuous, but on the other hand, this acquaintance wasn't be all or end all. Alexei's time fighting alongside the Havenites over the last few years have given him the impression of a ragtag band of all sorts, so there was bound to be someone he could joke with over at the coffeehouse, if not the maybe-kinsman.

When they arrived at the coffeehouse, the barista greeted them and pleasantly introduced himself as Joey Glory. One of the first of his customers out of Alexei's comrades was a young lady who introduced herself as Chelsea Steiner. Sure enough, Alexei definitely recognised her from the briefing as the girl who first expressed her vote for the coffeehouse, but he also recalled her from elsewhere. He ventured forward with his maybe-kinsman if he decided to follow, and approached Chelsea.

"Might I could ask you something, Ms. Steiner?" He began. "Ah, pardon my rudeness, my name is Alexei d'Vexille. I was wondering if you were a mechanic pilot during the Battle of the Blue Mountains, a little while ago?" He wondered. I just thought I recognised you, but then again, I fought alongside a lot of the Havenites from Sydney." He added, hoping his intuition was providing generously another opportunity to socialise with his comrades.

He turned to the barista when he was free for a moment. "May I please have a coffee as well, a medium mocha with honey please?" Alexei didn't know what to expect at this point. 'Honey', these days, was mostly artificially synthesized, unless you were one of the fortunate Independant city-states to have one of the new strains of surviving bees. Most conventional bees perished without an abundance of greenery, and even back before 2077, Alexei remembered learning that bees were at risk of going extinct because of humanity's carelessness. Alexei's hometown was lucky enough to have a resident beekeeping family; going strong since 2007, in fact. A whole five centuries and seven decades of tradition, older than Alexei's family of 'defenders of virtue'.

In any case, he didn't necessarily expect Joey to have the 'premium' stuff.

One of their other comrades was a lot more open than Alexei, apologizing openly and introducing herself to everyone as Encarnación Mariano. The accent highlighted her heritage, if not for her looks and uniform. Alexei only recognised her as a leader of the Spanish Battalion that fled Paragon-led Europe. However, he did not have anything to strike a conversation with her, so he just stayed around Ms Steiner for the moment.


Alexei d' Vexille

Alexei had just finished having a shower when the intercom blared, summoning all NC pilots to Ops. He dried his hair with the towel thoroughly, ruffling his tousled locks. He then looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, towel slung over his shoulders. He pulled a cheesy grin, and then slipped on his jockstrap. He then grabbed his pilot suit, the same one his father wore, and d'Vexilles before him. Family heirloom, if anything, just like Vectis. The thought of both wearing and piloting tradition centuries older than he was sometimes crossed Alexei's mind when he slipped into the yellow trimmed black and red suit.

He zipped up and then picked up his helmet, catching himself in the mirror again. No cheesy grin this time. The memory of his father was like a cloud that hung over Alexei when he put on the suit. He sighed, but knew even if the other pilots weren't suited up yet, it didn't do for a son of d'Vexille to be unprepared. He slipped a pellet of gum in his mouth and then walked out, leaving his room and headed down the corridors to get to Ops. When he arrived, he was one of the last pilots filing inside. He didn't greet anyone unless spoken too, and just hung on the outskirts of the briefing, leaning against the wall and listening to General Commander Narra. As he paid attention, he noted his comrades around the room and assessed their reactions-- Nothing seriously analytical, just to get an idea of their personalities.

When Narra described the primary asset of Red Star; Osamu Akiyama, Alexei's brow furrowed. He didn't at all like the thought of control over Vectis being wrested from him. That alone just made the strategy-- if it can be called that, of pre-emptively assaulting the enemy and closing the distance swiftly seem less insane. At least then, if Vectis is taken over, he would be at too far a distance to injure comrades. Sure, Vectis had combat sniping capability, but that was for on the move medium distances. And there surely was an NC that actually specialised in long range engagement. He just hoped they won't kill him.

Then again; would dying really be worse than being a Red Star captive?

Alexei then pursed his lips when Narra described the Chainbringer Team. More so when he ordered everyone to try and capture them. Well, he only said 'if they can be captured'. Anyone will understand if we kill them so we don't get killed. That's just war, baby. Alexei thought, blowing a bubble and popping it back into his mouth. He folded his arms and then thought it over. But I guess, if we have to use disabling force on each other in the event of a takeover, it would be some practice... What a fucked up situation.

Then amidst all that, Alexei couldn't believe what he was hearing. Time to relax and hang out? He shrugged internally, whilst watching everyone's reactions and hearing what they said. Most of them opted for the coffeehouse, one of them who introduced himself as Caz-- 'the resident drunk' more like, opted for the bar. Thankfully, nobody opted for the bathhouse. It didn't really make sense anyways. Imagine if Red Star took down the shields early and caught them with their pants down-- Literally. Alexei smirked at the thought, however silly and awkward that outcome would be. After all, humour was hard enough to come by without making it yourself.

Alexei didn't really care to vocalise his opinion, since everyone else had made up their minds. The coffeehouse was the popular choice, and he'd just be stacking on top of that. Pointless. However, as hard as it was to believe they had this ample amount of time to prepare by socialising, Alexei was sort of grateful. He actively focused on getting something decent to eat and drink while finding someone to watch his back while he possibly charges headfirst into danger. This distraction what he needed to avoid thinking about what a waste of time the situation was-- That's not what he thought. It's what my father would have thought. He said to himself with a tang of annoyance.

Here is my application, I hope it's alright!
Let me know if anything needs to be amended.



@Estylwen Fantastic, I'm looking forward to it. :)
@Estylwen, I've since updated Races, so "Bretons" can now be simply categorised as either Ravenfellans or Wesirinfellans (French or English/Scottish/Irish respectably). Please do contact me at any closest convenience about discussing anything to do with this.
Aruk and Crystal wandered for a while through the forest, unsure of where their things went.
"I bet those Elves took our stuff!" Crystal accused fiercely. Aruk sighed as he rounded a hollowed oak stump, and revealed the spot where their supplies were nestled in secret. He glanced at Crystal, who glanced back at him blankly. She then pouted. "They hid them there! Elven scum!" She went on. Aruk chuckled and pet Crystal on the head lightly.
"You never cease to amuse me, little one." Aruk noted, before picking up their supplies.

Crystal just kept pouting.
"I'm just-- What do you mortals call it these days? Jumping on the bandwagon?" Crystal turned a phrase. Aruk raised a scaley eyebrow as he began to set off towards the fort once more.
"I suppose that is what we are doing now." Aruk agreed as they travelled the forest towards the fort. "The bandwagon is never without room for anyone who does not like Elves." He remarked as he looked towards the banners of the Empire. Crystal nodded and sat back on Aruk's shoulder as he made their way to the fort.
Aruk and Crystal simply watched as the naked satyr dispatched his foe with ease.

Once it was all over, the satyr did not even turn to acknowledge their presence, and right fully so.

Aruk sighed and turned the other way. Crystal looked at him incredulously.
"How rude! Turn away from us--!" She started to complain. Aruk shook his head.
"Crystal." He said sternly. He needn't say anything else.

Breaking away from the standard convention of calling her "Little one" was enough. Crystal hurumphed childishly and hid back inside the pauldron of solitude. Aruk was no happier than her, but only because he knew he didn't even deserve to give his thanks to the warrior for the salvation. Aruk instead turned his thoughts to finding their baggage, and without Crystal's help. The little lady had the grudge of a crow.
The nightmare was real. It shouldn't be, but it was. Earlier that morning, Aruk thought the worst enemy he would have to face off against was at the most a few genocidal elves, but apparently the All-Father thought otherwise.

Then again, Aruk wasn't facing the abomination. He was narrowly flicking his tail back and forth to avoid hell's claws at his backside, sweat breaking all over as one foot after the other landed upon forest ground. He could feel the wind shriek at his spines as the sharp blades raked at the air.

Crystal was holding on inside Aruk's pauldron, whimpering and crying every few moments that the abomination snarled after its prey. Aruk just kept running, not even aware anymore of where he was headed. He just knew he could not stop, even though his lungs and gut begged him to rest. He forced himself to run so far and so fast, he was going to die running rather than die stopping.

But if nothing else, he would rather die fighting.

Aruk was ready to give up on running, his mind set on turning right round and charging to his death, when a shadow lunged through the sky. Or rather it was the blur of a dark figure. Either way, Aruk was ready to turn and fight, and he slid slightly to a stop ready to duck the next blade to come at him. But it never did. Aruk watched with a mix of uncertainty and awe, as the abomination turned away from him and faced another opponent.

Aruk saw the long bleeding cut along the back of the monster, and on the other side of its angered heaving mass, was a--

"Is he naked?" Crystal wondered aloud in confusion. Aruk shrugged, trying not to pay any attention to that fact than he did to being grateful to the All-Father.
"Now... We fight." Aruk commented. But Crystal noticed how short of breath he was.
"No, Aruk!" She ordered in her cute little voice. Aruk glanced at her. "Take a break! I think the strange naked goat person can kill it." She commented, moving to sit down on his shoulder and relax.

Aruk slowly relaxed his stance, holding his halberd up and stepping out to the side. He did not say anything, since he knew Crystal was right about his lack of energy at the moment. However, he did not feel at all at ease letting the nude stranger take on the monster on his own, if it was really that bad that he had to run from it. He clenched his grip around his halberd slightly, watching the stranger do battle.
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