As the lizard reared back, Naji felt a deep rumble of fear shoot through his gut. Well...made sense. He was a tiny pixie compared to the lizard after all. And probably an easy meal considering he was just standing there. Glancing over at Ash, it also looked like help wasn't coming immediately. Mustering all the confidence he could, he stomped his foot forward, flaring his wings out again and glaring sternly at the lizard before yelling. "NO." he booms (well, for a pixie), his tone like that of a frustrated pet owner. "Bad lizard. Very bad. You know better." His eyes narrowing.
There was a tense pause as he locked his eyes with the lizard, not allowing himself to back down or seem weak. Noise seemed to die out as he stood, for all the world seemingly totally ignoring the fact said lizard could easily kill him. Only the sudden blitz of black, purple and green scales managed to break his meditative last stand. It...looked like the stare down managed to buy just enough time for Ash to arrive, puffing and breaking the silence with a loud hiss.
The world came back into focus as Ash began to talk, the supressed terror now fading back into soft panic now that his savior was firmly between him and impending death. It was only at this point had his body relaxed enough to take notice of the luminous blue snot ball floating in the air. Ash was saying something to it, but Naji could barely make the words out as his heart blasted its last few palpitations through his skull, attempting to disperse the last of the adrenaline that came from staring probable death in the...eye slit thingies.
He did hear what she said next though. "Naji...the goblins are dead." The tone was...more an order than an update, though Naji was not about to bring that up. "Y...yeah. On it..." He warbles, keeping his eyes on the wild lizard and backing away slowly, wings still flared in an attempt to seem threatening. Once he felt he was atleast semi-safely out of the way, he circles around the group approaching the goblin corpses.
The smell was horrific. Under the best of circumstances, Naji would wager the goblins were world leaders in spectacular body odor. Could probably peel paint with their under arm emissions alone. But combined with the smokey acrid stench of a chemical burn, they were now an olfactory wonderland. As designed by Mengele.
Naji would like to say he turned his nose up at the prospect of eating either of the cadavers in front of him. He would like to, but pride and good taste were vastly over ridden by biological necessity. Really the only sign of hesitation about him was a breif pause to select the less poisonous looking one before deciding to just lay into the freshest kill.
At first he tried to pick at the things relatively unmolested legs with his fingers, attempting to peel away meat a little at a time. But after one or two meek attempts, he simply dived forward, sinking his teeth into gristly foul tasting thigh flesh and ripping backwards. This proved...satisfactory enough. The taste was like week old fried chicken combined with sewage, but that was not going to stop the pixie from gorging himself on as much of the corpse as was possible.
Husband of Aubree Lamay@Ellion and Adorabella Orchard@eclecticwitch Interacting with Aubree and Adorabella
”Nothing to apologize for.” Kagan grumbled, brushing the water from his tunic as Adora knelt against his knee. He’d been covered in worse discharges, so the light dampness was hardly an issue worth getting annoyed over. He examine the brand on Adora’s chest for a moment, taking in the lettering of his name on the girl. Javem had done an exceptional job, even for her. The letters were not fully attached to themselves, small even spacing in between the burns would fill in with scar tissue on their own as it healed, though bold enough that they would stand out at a distance. ”You did...well.” Kagan offers quietly as Bree stepped up to her own branding, gently patting the smaller gems head in an awkward attempt at rewarding her obedience.
Bree proved to be less understanding, because of course she did. Kagan was beging to wonder,however briefly, if the prince would let him trade HER in instead of Adora. He ignored the screaming easily enough, some of the older children he’d kinned were just as loud as the gem (if not more so). As the branding continued, he simply watched bored from the side, only occasionally breaking his meditation to provide Adora with a light stroke of the hair to break the monotony. A few times he thought about stepping in and holding the redhead down, but a sharp look from Javem told him she had it under control. The woman was old, but she’d be damned before she’d let anyone imply she was too frail to handle a Gem of all things.
Soon enough, the thrashing and screaming died down to more acceptable levels. ”Thank the gods. I was getting a headache...” He grumbles, only sparing a passing glance as Bree weakly hobbled past him and outside, the echos of the girl vomitting filling the room before dying down into more hushed sobs. ”“Fawking.....” Javem said, putting her tools back into the small fire to give them a quick clean. ” Iz alwayz the onez what ya think iz gon be the easy ones what thrash ‘bout all the toim.” She adds bitterly, going over to a small shelf and pulling a plain wooden box. Inside where several collars, shiny brown leather inlaid with stitched scenes of Gemmenian wilds. ”...Your late husbands work?” Kagan asks dully, looking over his shoulder to keep an eye on Bree. Thankfully she didn’t seem to have the energy to do much more than sob on the shops door step. First thing she made easy for him all day really.
”Aye. Ya a good friend so not gon give ye that cheap shite what Broggon’s been selling me. Daft arse he is. Ye know he tried passing cow hide off as lamb ta me last winter?” Javem huffs, shifting through the works before removing two she seemed satisfied with. She hands one to Adora, a light grey soft leather embrodiered with bronze thread, showing a still lake with trees. There was a small layer of padded velvet on the inside, so as to not dig into the skin. A heavy brass ring sat in the middle of the collar, presumably where a leash would attach. ”Yez the good one. So ya get this. Its me Lariq’s last good work for hiz eyez went ta pot, so don’t you go and lose it. Swear to Drun if I find out ya did, I’ll beat you so hard ya hubby wont look at ya, much less fuck ya.” She rumbles, fixing Adora with a harsh glare, albiet one more concerned with safety of the collar and lacking any real anger behind it.
She hands the second collar to Kagan along with a pair of leashes. It was much the same as Adora’s, though looked to be a bit older. The leather was a light brown and depicted a warm hearth setting in shinning copper, patina adding the occasional freckle of green to the embroidery. ”Other one getz this. You tell her the same. Not one of hiz last but still damn good work. Best in the capital.” She huffs.
Kagan gives a light bow before speaking. ”The Church thanks you. I’ll be sure to take the value of this off your husband’s tithe when I return home. I’ll see that he’s returned to be entombed by the end of the month.” He says, formality replacing the warmth from their ealier greeting, not that it seemed to change Javem’s temperment much.
”Right right. Dun suppose you need anything else. Just dun let the cunts scratch at it. Risk infection. And tell em to be sure ta clean the damn things erry night.” She grunts, slumping behind her counter. ”Now fuck off. I’vez got tools ta clean fer me next customer.” Kagan wordlessly nods, attempting to hide the bemused smirk on his lips to little avail before heading towards the door.
Looking down at the Gem, it was fairly obvious that the branding had been...difficult. The lines were clean enough, though there were a few noticable bumps and unintentional jabs caused by the girls thrashing. Part of him wanted to drag the girl back in and have it redone, worried the its legibility would suffer once it fully healed, but he fought the urge. Javem would not have let her go if she was unhappy with her work.
He kneels down next to Bree, whose decency was only being preserved thanks to the shirt she was keeping pinned to her chest, gently slipping the collar around her throat. ”Bree.” He whispers, carefully tighting the collar to a comfortable snugness. ”You did...” He pauses, thinking how best to approach the subject. He sighs, deciding not to for the moment. The girl would probably atleast behave for now. ”It’s done. I’ll give you a few seconds to collect yourself. After that we’ll head back into the market.” He says, lazily looking at Adora. ”As...I believe I promised a gift for each of you at some point.”
Kagan waits like he is at the dentenist. Gems get brands and pretty collars. Though Kagan is getting tired of Bree’s drama. Its just a flesh wound, come on now. Decides to be diplomatic and just give the girls a second to breath before suggesting they go shopping to put this horror behind them.
“The first casualty of any battle is the plan of attack”~Ghandi, War of 1812. Naji was absolutely sure that Ghandi had said this. Maybe the wrong date, but who cares, at the moment, it was proving itself to be absolutely true. As soon as Ash had closed the distance a glowing ball of energy shot out of nowhere and slammed into one of the goblins. For a moment, he wondered if it was Ash’s until he remembered their barter. The lizard of the second goblin dropped his hold on his scaly pet, which preceeded to blitz towards his and Scotts position.
”The universe is just determined to screw me over...isn’t it?” He thought, watching the beast rush towards the two of them. Scott yelled for him to get to cover but...well. Naji had his doubts that would help. If he were in prime condition, he could probably just fly his way out of this, but he was far from that. And there probably was nothing readily close he could make use of that would hold off the lizard. He could fight it....That would atleast be funny for anyone watching, though the idea of being thrashed around like an old chew toy made his stomach drop into his knees.
So....time to do something stupid. ”Scott...cover me.” He says quickly, standing up and slowly moving out from behind the rock into the lizards sights, hands calmly resting at his sides as he walks carefully towards the charging lizard. ”Relax...” He tells himself while taking a deep breath. ”Its just like dealing with drunk college kids. Only with less slobber.”
”Whoa whoa whoa” He yells, throwing his arms in front of him and flaring his wings, his voice coming calm and (hopefully) soothing. ”Easy big fella. Easy!” He yells again, lowering his wings a little to what he hoped was a less stressed lizard. He swears to himself that if he dies because of this he will haunt the /shit/ out of whoever fired off that mana thingy.
Husband of Aubree Lamay@Ellion and Adorabella Orchard@eclecticwitch Interacting with Aubree and Adorabella
”...well fawk me, aint you th’ fancifuler type.” Javem blurts with a laugh at Adora’s overly formal introduction. ”Dun bother with none tha’ madame shit girlie.” She says after the small bout of chuckles ended. ”Tha’ baby faced cunt ye call a husband know betta than most I aint no high class society whatzer. Javem works just foin.” She adds, nodding simply at Kagan, who seemed annoyed with his description but let the indiscretion slide.
Aubree's greeting got a very different reaction, the older woman's eyes widening in mild suprise as the redheads last name hit her lips. She gives Kagan a bemused look before speaking, "You shitting? Done did a brandin one of yerz couple years back. Camamlie or some rot the loik. Tough little shit she waz. Didn't flinch er squeal once." She says, giving Aubree a firm slap on the back.
With pleasantries out of the way, Javem takes a step back, inspecting the two gems closes. Her eyes pass over every inch of available skin, an occasional mumble escaping her as some detail warrented notation in the old Drakken's mind. Finally she turns to Kagan, "Ye sure ye don't want it done on the fun bits? They both got damn good skin for it." She asks, rubbing her chin. "I'm sure Javem. And no face brandings either." He says quickly, taking a seat in a free chain.
"Feh. Loik I'd suggest a face. Hate doin faces. Too easy ta fawk up. N' always heal up blotch loik." Javem rumbles, turning her attention to the gems. She gently pokes an experimental thumb into the exposed clevage of Adora before giving her am an experimental pinch. "....Wez betta off starting with the shortie. Lil more fat on ‘er so it'll be easier. Wanna make sure i doil in the temperature on the irons right before working the redhead. Dun wanna damage no nerves." She says simply, going behind the counter and pulling out a small shaving kit and a peice of charcoal.
"Where do you think the best places to do it would be?" Kagan asks as he watches brander carefully rub the razor clean with foul smelling alcohol. "Shortie: Pretty much anywhere. With scrawny: Tits, arse, thighs maybe upper arms. Anywhere with a good amount of fat tween me and the muscle." She says absent mindedly, tossing the charcoal to Adora.
Kagan stays silent for a moment, trying to decide where he should paint himself on the canvas that was his gem... before deciding that was the single most uncomfortable way to word that in existence and giving up. ”...decide between yourselves where. Just make sure its visible or easy to display on command.” He says, crossing his legs and slumping in his chair.
Javem enjoys adora’s silliness. She’s burned Lamays before. Girls get to choose where their terrible scarring gets to happen. YAYYY
”They’re...not other people right?” Naji asked, not really wanting an answer as he crawled off of Ash’s tail, taking cover behind a small rock. It was hardly ideal cover, but he was able to see the goblin duo fairly clearly from here. And he was not about to voice objections of any sort to his would be protector. ”I uh...think I can manage the not dying part. Love that part honestly. Be careful out there...” He says as the lizard darts away.
He nods silently at Scott before hunkering down, occasionally firing a glance behind them just to keep an eye out for any intruding parties on their (well...Ash’s really) impending kills. ”God I should have been a goblin...” He grumbles to himself, really wishing he had literally anything to defend himself. He’d just have to hope what little MP he had could get him out of any trouble...NOPENOPENOPE. Not going to start worrying about possible bad things now. NOPE. Everything will be fine. Everything is always totally fine.
Husband of Aubree Lamay@Ellion and Adorabella Orchard@eclecticwitch Interacting with Aubree and Adorabella
The walk had gone...mostly without incident, for which Kagan was thankful. Adora was, more or less, obedient requiring him corral her back into his grasp only once or twice when she strayed too far for his comfort. She was...weirdly excitable, given that she was about to be horribly burned. For a moment, Kagan wondered if this was either her not being fully aware of the situation, but wrote it off quickly. He knew little of the gem, but she hardly seemed vapid enough to not realize what would be (If Bree was any indication) taken as a serious threat to her health.
Bree was more a problem, a series of fidgets and pulls that required he constantly grab or pull her back to his side. By the half way mark, he settled for more dragging the redhead than leading her, a fact which made Adora's dutiful trot at his side all the more appreciated. Her hesitation he did not mind, it was expected. The attention it drew, however, was something of an annoyance. Weakness rolled off the girl, and some of the lesser Drakken starved for a good lay could practically smell it. Most behaved themselves, only daring to sneak glances at the two gems in the care of the young Drakken, carefully weighing their chances before abandoning the idea of taking them all together. A few well placed glares and glances at the mace strapped to his side warded off the more brazen few that decided it might be worth the risk, sending them slinking back to their bars or stalls. Still, Kagan doubted that would be the full end of it. He'd probably have to kill someone before the day was over. And in his good tunic to.
Still, they HAD made it unmolested. That was a win. A small win, but a win none the less. The Brander's home was small and worn from age...and several dozen fires that had resulted from her craft. But when a Drakken decided they enjoyed living somewhere, there was little that could dissuade them from staying. Blackened scorch marks peppered the exterior and a smell oozed from every direction. Savory and foul, like someone had decided to skin a long dead boar and cook the back fat for far too long.
He was about to enter when Bree stopped dead, pulling herself from his grip on the girl as she stammered his name weakly. The gem looked on the verge of tears, a fact which saved her from the growing rage blossoming in Kagan's chest. Slapping her would be pointless, she was too emotional at the moment for any lesson physical reprisal might impart. If anything, she'd get worse if he did. Instead, he reached slowly, wrapping a hand around her arm tightly before pulling her close.
"This is not a debate." he growls, eyes narrowing into a glare. "If it were not for the fact I killed a man yesterday and am dressed to the nines in religious regalia, I would have had to kill atleast four other Drakken just dragging you here. Since you seem not to be in a mood to understand, I will explain it again." He leans in, voice dropping to an agitated whisper.
"You are MY Bride. But to the rest of Drakka, you are a quick and easy fuck. Had I not been so attentive, you'd likely be missing a few teeth while someone new enjoyed you before coming here. And that is IF I had found you." He loosens his grip on the gem, turning back to the door. "Do not mistake my insistence on this as a matter of enjoying tormenting you. This is precaution, for your safety and my convenience. Nothing more, nothing less. You will not act like this again or you wil-” His voice stops dead as the door swings open, another drakken standing in its frame as it glares down at the trio. He and Kagan stare each other down for a moment, a wordless tense exchange. The man grunts, stepping out of the three's way, Kagan dragging the two girls inside before the polite offer was rescinded. Inside, the smell of burnt skin was eightfold what it had been outside and it was no small secret as to why. The man at the door was a customer, and the small blue haired gem in his grasp was his. As clearly evident by the name scrawled on her forehead, surrounding flesh still somewhat black from the experience.
Her eyes were rolled into the back of her skull and her limbs hung limp at her sides. If there was not the faintest rise and fall to her chest, Kagan would have assumed she was dead. The polite Drakken nods, then wordlessly steps out back into the street, dragging his bride with him and closing the door. ”...end up with someone like him....” Kagan finally manages to sigh, the fury in him dying at the sight.
"Fawking Brutez what ‘e iz." A voice pipes from the back, an elderly Drakken woman stepping from behind a curtain of beads. "Daft cunt thunk his whore tough nuff to take the old face job." She says, barking with laughter which shook the many white dreadlocks that adorned her head, tipped with gleaming glass beads.
Javem the brander was once a giant of a woman, standing nearly to Kagan's height and twice as wide. These days though, she was a hunched pudgy creature, barely able to look up towards her younger patrons. Kagan releases the two gems, reaching down and hugging the elder Drakken woman. "Good ta see ye brat. Gratz on ‘at old twat teach'r yers wha' finally kick'd tha' mortal coil off." She says, Kagan managing to laugh weakly and ignore the gracious amount of spittle that was probably raining down his back. Javem liked to joke that she, quote, “had more ‘ears than teef left." Most would agree with her.
"It is good to see you Javem. You look well." Kagan says, pulling out of the hug. "The fawk I do. Look loik Sorrak's scrot on a cold day." She chuffs, punching the Kinner's side with a strength that did not match her frame. Javem looks over the two gems, eying them as one might a canvas. "...themz yerz I take it?" She asks once finished with her inspection.
"Ah uh....yes Ma'am." Kagan says, coughing slightly as his manners returned to him. "Girls. Introduce yourself to Javem." He orders.
Kagan escorts the gems to his brander. Gets annoyed at Bree's fear, reminds her that she's basically cattle people have sex with. Explains in no uncertain terms how bad her situation is and that getting branded is probably considerably worse than not. Immidately feels like a jackass when another customer has had his name branded on his GEMS FACE. Ya know. Like a jerk. They meet the brander in question, Javem. Javem is pretty cool old drakken woman. She makes my screen run read with typos. Introduce yourself girls!
@Rune_Alchemist@CollectorOfMyst ”No offense taken Scott. Though personally I think I’ve never looked better. Finally I can pass through an Airport security checkpoint without being harassed.” Naji joked weakly, rolling over quickly and hitching a ride on Ash’s tail. It was...not the most dignified way to travel, and it was more him being dragged along by the much larger creature than a proper mount. But it beat walking and he was pretty sure if he started flying, he’d start draining HP very quickly.
”And as much as I wish otherwise, I’m afraid our new scaled friend is right. I can speak from experience that not a lot of critters walk around this section of the cave. If we think of this cave like a city, this is probably the ghetto of sorts. Not a lot of resources. “ He readjusts himself on the tail, sitting up a little more so his face no longer had the stunning view of the dirt. He leans over to the other Pixie, whispering quietly. “And as it stands, our choices are limited. Ash has me pretty much entirely by the short hairs until she thinks it not worth it to keep me around.”
He coughs a little, running through his options before Ash came to...whatever she was looking for. A fight right now would be bad for him, though thankfully Ash seemed aware of that and had given the two pixies permission to stay out of the brawl. He thinks for a moment before pipping up again. ”Tenative plan here, but let us know before you move to fight the critters Ash.” He says as clearly as possible with his current level of energy. ” I’ll hang back with Scott who should hopefully be able to keep moving around the brawl with me in tow. That healing stone should keep you juiced in an emergency, but just in case it’s probably a good idea if Scott keeps a shield spell handy if things go really south. I’ll keep a heal ready as a last resort, but neither of you should count on that happening.” Though he didn’t say it, he was somewhat hoping it might go a little poorly. If only so he could see how a shield spell was performed before needing to teach Ash. No reason to discover things for yourself if you could get others to do it for you, right?
@Rune_Alchemist@CollectorOfMyst Naji nods limply at the new pixie, Scott apparently. “pleasure to meet you Scott.” He adds weakly. It was...rather odd to hear such a mundane name ascribed to a mystic creature honestly. Years of TV and video games somewhat conditioned him to expect something fantastical like Trill or something. To be entirely fair, he supposed he was probably the exception, having a name that was probably not very common to most regions of the world and vaguely sounding like dumb fantasy nonsense.
“And like wise to you Miss Ash...As for what I mean...” He says as the two turn towards a stone Scott had manage to secure, scribbling something unseen to Naji from his vantage point on the ground. “Mostly it involves healing you exclusive or things of that nature. As for the learning concerns...I’m not sure. It could be possible that healing magic may be our classes thing, ya know? But considering you mentioned that you do have MP, maybe practicing with us will open up those options faster. Like a quest reward or something.” He shrugs limply. He wasn't exactly an avid gamer or something. RPGs had been a rare and casual past time for him, and never anything more complex than what was available in a video game store. Rigid classes were, for him, somewhat an expectation.
He manages to sit up a little, his body groaning with the effort as a loud growl escaped his stomach. Finally able to see what the two were working on, he was a little confused. “...So please forgive me for being out of the loop, but why are we writing words on rocks?...” He asks, paling slightly as a wave of weakness washed over him. “Cause when I did the heally thing, I mostly just spoke in vaguely understood words and did awkward flailing gestures.”
Your Stamina is very low. You are exhausted. You are dehydrated. You are Starving. Your MP is almost depleted. Your HP is starting to deplete.
“Yeah yeah...Tell me something I don’t know...” Naji mumbles, slowly crawling from the new hole his lizard associate just opened up for him before promptly flopping to the floor like a lead bag. He lay there silently for a moment, the Lizard talking at him and some new pixie, the words dimly registering in his brain while his stomach attempted to turn in on itself from the sudden burst of movement. He looks over his new associates from his vantage point in the dirt at their feet. “Hello. I’m Naji. Thank you so much for asking...” He says quietly.
He sits up slowly, his body raging agaisnt any action that was not ‘sit down and continue to die slowly.’. He huffs as the lizard asked for his and the other pixies help in learning magic. Typical bad customer. Demand something right off the bat, no matter how unreasonable it may be. Still...the offer was tempting. While he was not really overflowing with magical knowledge, he DID have a innate healing and defensive spell. Valuable resources to leverage, especially for an offensively oriented creature like the lizard. Better yet, it didnt know HE barely knew what he was doing.
“Nothing’s free friend...” He starts slowly, letting his egyptian accent rise a little more prominently. “As it stands, I dont even have MP to teach you how to cast, even if I wanted to. But you scratch our backs....” He adds, letting the lizard fill in the blanks for itself. He waits for a moment longer before looking over the other Pixie. He was probably in a much better position as Naji was, but it would feel...wrong to just leave him out of the deal. They were both relatively helpless without someone else to protect them. Guilt was a shitty garnish to a meal anyway.
“If you need more convincing Mr. Lizard...while I can’t speak for our friend here, I can offer to be your...god whats the MMO term for it...” He pauses for moment, scratching at his chin as he searched his memory. His eyes light up as it finally comes to him. “Heal slut! I think thats the slang for it. Once you get the hang of magic enough to do it yourself...we can renegotiate the deal or part ways. If thats still not to your liking...you can just leave your fellow man to die.”
In truth, the deal favored the lizard a little more than he liked. But, he didn’t really have much of a choice at the moment. A potential guarantee of immediate survival somewhat trumped the urge to cheat the lizard. Besides, the worst it could do was say no. ...Or eat him. But one life threating situation at a time Naji.
"...really? You’re going to threaten me with removing the one thing keeping me trapped?” Naji asks, somewhat dumbfounded at the lizard’s attempt to sound terrifying. The tone was right, but she hadn’t really managed to say anything he wasn’t ecstatic to hear. A muffled cry echoed from behind the lizard, too small a voice to be anything of real concern (well, to him atleast.) The lizard whips around hissing a threat at the unseen new comer. It was...really concerned with being scary it seemed. God knows why.
“I’m ok with you taking the crystal. Take all the crystals you want. Hell, there is a stalactite in the back. Have that too. I’m sure its a manners whatzit to...” He says weakly, the attempt at being sarcastic falling fairly flat given the weak and tepid tone of the speaker. He really didn’t have the energy to argue the issue with the lizard and, frankly, it was welcome to whatever it wanted that wasn’t him. “All I want is out. And food. So please lets just...save the theatrics to that demon king jack off yea?” He adds, hoping to ease the lizard into letting him go before things flew thoroughly off the handle.
FlappyTheSpybot