Level_5

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Aww, thank you for the offer! I wish I could join, my god; the concept sounds really clever, and I like the dark undertones (Evil job board, oh gosh). You're right though in that I'm too busy to pick up another roleplay, and I don't want to be the person that drags everyone else down because I can't respond often enough. :( I hope you're able to find a final taker! And thank you for the invitation, of course~

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Watching Frey rock himself back onto his feet, fully cognizant of the tears pricking the younger prince's eyes, Asbel's first instinct -- first by far beyond the rest -- was to put his arms around the young man and pull him away from Augustine and Cassius. Frey wasn't going to break down, not in front of them, and if he needed to get away, then Asbel would go with him and let him cry as he had before, let him weep until everything washed out of the prince's mind and the young man could be at peace.

So as the prince turned and fled into the trees, Asbel surged forward to follow--

"Asbel -- stop."

And stopped. At the order, the phoenix froze, panic a blade in his chest. But Augustine, behind him, though trembling still with indignation on his dragon's behalf, spoke with self-control and more anguish than anger:

"He can't keep doing this. He can't keep running away as if that's going to fix everything. He can't lash out like that without dealing with the consequences. He can't--" The general broke off, and Asbel realized he was gritting his teeth and blinking back tears in the same way his brother was. Cassius, who had let him go, touched the prince's arm again, this time in reassurance, but Augustine shook him off all the same.

"If I can't keep track of him, I can at least keep track of you two." The prince fixed Asbel, then, with a gaze that still caught him through the chest like an arrow. "I'll take Cassius into the air, Asbel. He might be able to sense Frey from the air, and you may search by foot. We should be able to see your light from above, but if anything threatens you -- especially if it's Frey -- I want you to fly straight up and we'll come to you. No arguing."

"No, sir," the phoenix agreed, brimming with relief that they would be searching for Frey after all. But of course they would: even if they fought, Augustine wasn't going to let Frey get himself killed out in the woods somewhere.

So the young man plunged into the woods as fast as his exhausted legs would allow, following by the light of his own aura what glimpses of a trail Frey had left behind. "Prince Frey!" he shouted. "Frey!" He could hear the rush of dragon wings above, and rustling in the trees, but there was no screaming as there had been before, no crying, no audible clue at all to reveal the prince's location.

He pressed on as darkness fell, and eventually he glowed like a fallen star in woods otherwise devoid of light. "Frey," he continued to call, though the occasional howl of hunting animals could not tempt him to shout as he had before. "Frey, where are you?"

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Likewise! And sorry I left you with a tough situation to write for in the last one.

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Lol, even Augustine has a short fuse where his best friend is concerned. C:

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

A reply at last! :D

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Though he was the sole target of Frey's abuse, Cassius did not even flinch as the mallet went whistling over his head, dusting the ends of his short hair as it went. His impassive gaze marked the younger prince's irritation, but made no like reply. He could recognize subject-less anguish when he saw it, and Frey was surely no more mad at him than he would have been at anyone else who had caught his eye after such a miserable night and day. Certainly the prince would not be so foolish as to deliberately pick a fight with a dragon.

Augustine, on the other hand, heard his younger brother's howl of rage and turned in time to see Frey hurtle the mallet at Cassius. Without pause, without thought, the general surged forward. Frey dropped to his knees of his own accord, and Augustine slammed into him, knocking him forward into the dirt and pinning one of the younger prince's arms behind his back.

"Don't you dare," he gasped, trembling. "Don't you dare touch him, Frey! If you hurt him-- If you-- I don't care what you do or say to me -- abuse me all you like, I swear it -- but if you ever think that Cassius is just a victim for you to torment, I will smash your face into the dirt. Do you understand?" The young man's fingers tightened around Frey's wrist and shoulder. "I don't care if you don't have any friends or any appreciation for the people who care about you, but Cassius is my friend and you will not hurt him. You will not--"

The prince broke off as Cassius caught his arm and hauled him upright, but still Augustine glared down at his younger brother with eyes aflame, shaking with unexpressed indignation. "I'm fine," the dragon growled, dragging Augustine farther away. "Let the boy be. He's hurt." Augustine made no reply, only gritted his teeth and tried to shake his arm free from Cassius's grasp.

Asbel, hanging back with heart hammering at the confrontation, only now edged closer. He had seen Frey angry before, if only that morning, but he had not known that Augustine had it in him to be so blindly aggressive. Perhaps the two brothers were not so different after all, and, afraid now of all three parties, the phoenix twisted his hands together and hovered on the other side of the tent from the hate that poisoned the air around the others.

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Gosh, I could say the same. D: I'll reply as soon as I can!

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

As soon as he stepped forward to join Augustine, the general began to speak in low, worried tones. "You must tell me what happened last night, Asbel. Frey might be standoffish and rude at home, but he has never been paranoid like this. Do you know what's causing it?"

Despite the earnest quest for illumination, Asbel bit his lip for fear of saying too much. Frey had never done anything to encourage a relationship between himself and his older brother, and yet Augustine cared about him with an obviousness that was painful to witness. The younger prince ought to tell the older what had happened of his own accord, otherwise nothing would ever breach the trench between them. And how much more, really, did the phoenix know about what had happened?

His hand was tingling, rather more than he would have expected from the oddity of touch, but the feeling abated as he rubbed his hands together and managed to get most of the prince's blood off of his palm. "There was nothing in our tent," he maintained. He spoke softly, though as Augustine leaned in to hear more accurately, the phoenix edged away, tinged pink, and spoke a mite louder. "Frey was having a bad dream, I think, and he woke me. I asked him what was wrong, but he ran out of the tent and ran screaming all the way to the... to the water. I pulled him out. That's all. Something must have attacked him in the water."

Augustine's expression, then, when Asbel glanced up from his folded hands, was difficult to read. Did Frey usually suffer nightmares? Was that why he was afraid of the dark? Did Augustine know what frightened his brother?

But "You need not sleep in the tent with him again tonight," was all the general said by way of reply, and Asbel bit his lip again. "You were so brave in doing what you did last night, and I owe you a debt I can't even begin to repay, and I would not send you to suffer the same struggle tonight if Frey panics again. Cassius will watch over him tonight. He's the best-suited to keeping away anything dangerous."

Asbel's first instinct was, of course, to agree. Frey's been a nightmare himself. You owe him nothing. He's harassed you for nearly your entire life. Let the dragon keep the little brat company; let the dragon try to keep him out of trouble. Asbel was not there to babysit his arrogant, prickly enemy. Frey thought him a tool, and why bother giving the undeserving young man any reason to think otherwise?

And yet... there was more to Frey than that. The prince had hugged him in desperation to escape whatever bad dreams tormented him, had sobbed into his shoulder immediately after his rescue, had embraced him to keep him safe from the rain and to keep them both warm in the cold. Frey was frightened -- terrified out of his mind -- and of course he would lash out. Certainly he still had no excuse for being such a terror to others, but his defensiveness and unwillingness to connect with people made sense at last, if nothing else. Frey was not a monster.

And Augustine not for a moment treated Asbel like a tool. He studied the phoenix with open concern, recognizing without a doubt the humanity of his most reclusive traveling companion. Cassius, too, he had always treated as a friend, and the general's compassion made the phoenix's chest ache.

"Whether or not he needs a... a bodyguard, I think that's Frey's choice," he murmured. "If he wants me to stay with him, I will."

They exchanged no further words for the rest of the walk, and as Frey began to complain, Augustine slowed to a halt and began to unpack the tents. "We should be able to fly again tomorrow night, Frey," the elder brother promised. He handed Asbel one of the stakes for the tent, and the phoenix moved at once to help as he had before, as the general continued: "We're nearly through the pass, and then it will be a day's flight to the northern kingdom. Help Cassius with the tent again, would you? Please?"

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Cool! Even if it's for class, that sounds like a cool project! I hope it goes well!

Annnnd that's quite an interesting aspect of your video, I'm sure. Just be sure to clean up after you're done, lol.

[Skybreaker] Envieux [Level_5]

Yay, hand-holding! Can't always pull someone out of their own panic, though, I suppose. C:

(What a song, oh gosh. Very tragic and bleak with the words, but the video had such hope in it. I like it -- 100% approval rating.)

And I should let you know: I'm going to be gone on a family-style trip from Wednesday until Sunday, but I'll talk to you when I'm back, of course!