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| | Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) |  |
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Eldarwen
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|  Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen)  Mon May 06, 2013 9:13 am | |
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“I hope you’re right,” Zeke replied as he settled his things opposite Rhys, but not quite ready yet to go to sleep. The matter of Maurice was too complicated to simply be dismissed so easily but he couldn’t help but hope that it really was that simple. It would make their lives much less difficult for sure. The unicorn himself was off at the river, gulping down large amounts of water, presumably not listening to them. But with Maurice they could never quite be sure. Zeke still wasn’t sure whether the unicorn actually understood them or whether it only gave off the impression that it did.
“I’m going to go for a quick bath,” Zeke said, feeling the need to cleanse himself after the day’s events. It was a silly notion probably but he had also sweated quite a bit in their attempt to run away from zombified thugs. “Maybe I’ll encounter a fish along the way for dinner,” he grinned, though he wasn’t quite sure whether he was up for food. They had to eat however, no matter what had happened. If their journey had taught them anything, it was that they needed to be prepared for all eventualities. This included keeping up their strength by eating.
Grabbing the waterskins to fill them up while he was in the water, Zeke proceeded to wallow in the cool liquid for a while before indeed catching a handful of small fish.
Hunting for something edible and cooking it later on always seemed to clear his mind and the young man was already happily wondering what new adventures their journey would bring them, when he asked Maurice: “Do you want them raw or grilled?”
Without skipping a beat, the unicorn replied: “I prefer them grilled, thank you.”
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sat May 11, 2013 7:52 pm | |
| While Zeke was busy getting clean, Rhys rolled up his shirt to properly inspect the damage that his adventure up the tree had done. He had had worse, but three stitches had gone, and the inside of the scar was sticky with blood. That would smart for a few days, then. He wished the damned thing would just heal already, but enough years had passed already to tell his it could be a problem indefinitely. He reached inside his left, outer chest pocket and fished out a roll of bandages to wind around himself to take the strain off, and ties the ends as tightly as he could manage.
If Zeke did indeed manage to catch them some supper, Rhys figured it would be best to have a cookfire ready for him when he returned. He had a set of flints in his right bottom outer pocket, and the grass under the shrubbery around the river seemed dry enough to work as kindling. There were bits of stick all over the place, presumable from the small trees across the river, or blown over from the larger forest. He hoped the trees wouldn’t hunt him down or anything for burning them.
With a little bit of work, the fire caught and was soon crackling merrily. “Zeke, you on your way back yet?” He shouted, before leaning back and relaxing in the grass. He wasn’t /entirely/ relaxed, as the events of the day had shaken him a little more than he really wanted to let on, but the cool air and warm fire were doing an awful lot to settle him. He hoped there wouldn’t be any more surprises – at least until tomorrow. Sadly hoping wasn’t quite enough…
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon May 13, 2013 8:10 am | |
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Zeke gulped as he stared wide-eyed at the unicorn. Had he been hallucinating? Had he really just heard what he had heard? No, that wasn’t possible. Was it? Unicorns didn’t talk, did they? But in all honesty, what did Zeke know about unicorns? Especially rainbow coloured zombie ones. Dragons could talk, why not unicorns?
Blinking a couple of times while Maurice returned his surprised, and somewhat shocked, stare without wavering. Just then, Rhys was calling out to him, wondering where he was, but the young man still didn’t have the brain presence to actually respond to the question, his eyes still fixed on Maurice.
Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Zeke cleared his throat, straightened up and nodded. “Grilled it is, then!” Without another glance at the unicorn – it was just too weird – Zeke made his way back to his friend and the happy glow of a small campfire. “Thanks,” he muttered as he picked up the stick Rhys had left for their dinner. Without any other comment, Zeke set about to prepare the fish and held the pike over the flames, staring into them without actually seeing anything.
Too many thoughts were in his mind to focus on one particular thing but the recent development since they had set out this morning were the most prominent amongst them. What on earth was going on? Maurice had come up from the river again as well, fur still gleaming from the water. Without as much as a glance at Zeke, the unicorn moved to Rhys and settled next to him. The young man’s eyes refocused and he took in the picture, still questioning his own sanity a little.
“Maurice can talk,” he suddenly blurted out, looking at Rhys with big, round eyes.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon May 13, 2013 7:57 pm | |
| Zeke was a little while in getting back, but Rhys just assumed he was still getting clean or something. He didn’t suspect anything was amiss until the young man returned. He looked… not himself, but again, Rhys could understand that perfectly, so he let him get on with the fish. He had caught them a veritable feast compared to some meals Rhys had eaten, and grilled fish sounded excellent right then. Maurice seemed happy too, and made himself comfortable but Rhys’ side, making the side of his trousers damp where they touched him.
Zeke’s outburst caught Rhys by surprise, and for a long moment his eyebrow crept up, but he didn’t say a word. Finally gathering his thoughts, he took a breath and blinked. “Zeke, I know it’s been a long day, but...” But what? He wasn’t convinced about Maurice. “He probably just sneezed and it sounded like ‘hello’ or something – I’m sure it was nothing.” He said slowly. After everything the idea of Maurice talking surely shouldn’t have been too implausible, but Rhys just didn’t see it.
Rhys reached out to help with the food, turning over one of the spitted fish carefully to cook the other side. That done, he flicked out a big, silver coin. He was a man with an awful lot of nervous ticks, and when he was too tired to fumble about with the pack of cards, he would flick the coin over the tops of his fingers and practice his most basic coin related tricks. He was just about to ‘pass it through his hand’ when the coin slipped onto the grass. He had never dropped that coin – not once, so he just looked at it in the grass. Then a little voice by his leg piped up. “I thought that would get your attention. He’s not wrong you know.” It took Rhys a long moment to place the speaker, but when he did, his jaw dropped open, and his gaze shifted from the silver coin to the unicorn beside it.
“I- you- t-that’s not possible…” he stammered, eyes wide. Now he understood why Zeke had looked so shaken up!
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu May 16, 2013 8:29 am | |
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Unsure what to make of the whole situation, Zeke kept his mouth shut for the time being and let Rhys come to terms with the statement he had just randomly burst out. The fact that the trickster resorted to playing around with a coin spoke volumes about how confused he was about this development as well, even though he did not believe his younger companion.
Finally, Zeke resorted to picking up the conversation again when Maurice beat him to the punch and somehow seemed to make Rhys’ coin drop and then proceeded to talk to the man, which of course confused Rhys even more. But at least, it reassured Zeke that he was not completely losing it. That had to be good, right? He looked at Rhys with a frown on his forehead still and confusion, mixed with a bit of desperation, plainly written on his face. What were they going to do now?
Taking a deep breath, Zeke tried to look at Maurice with a level eye. No matter how shaken up both of them were, in the end, the fact that the unicorn could speak wasn’t really making that much of a difference, other than them finally being able to get an answer out of Maurice when they were wondering about certain things, rather than merely guessing. Hopefully that would be the only thing that would change. But honestly, what else did this weirdo unicorn have in store for them? All this because they found an egg.
“So Maurice, how long have you been able to talk? How come you even can talk?” Zeke asked, biting his lip hard for not continuing with the questions, especially asking out loud what else they should be prepared for, and most definitely steering away from wondering what the heck had happened back in the forest. No good could come of that. Or so Zeke thought.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:02 pm | |
| Rhys continued to sit in stunned silence, sulking just a little too, until Zeke’s voice cut through his thoughts. He snatched up the silver coin and shifted, scowling. “You could have said something a little sooner – you’ve got us into an awful lot of bother, you know.” He grumbled. Rhys hadn’t liked being called ‘mummy-Rhys’, but it was kind of true, and the idea of Maurice growing up, killing things and talking all in a day was really getting to him.
Maurice looked down at his hooves when Rhys scolded him, and the magician immediately softened up again, holding out a hand to the unicorn. “Oh alright, but you have some explaining to do young man.”
“Well, I never tried before, so of course I don’t know how long I’ve been able to speak,” Maurice announced, very matter-of-factly, “and I’m not sure how either. I’m still only a foal, after all…” With that he nuzzled into Rhys’ outstretched hand, flopping down on the grass just like he always did.
Rhys finally got over his shock with that. “Right, well I guess from now on we’ll have to talk as a group, since we can’t leave Maurice out anymore, but I suppose this is the most normal thing that’s happened for a while.” And that was that, Rhys was comfortable again. Meeting Zeke had been good for him, and he was getting much more used to the idea of change. “Is there anything in particular you want to say to us, then?” he asked the unicorn, the coin flicking through the fingers of his left hand again comfortably. It seemed nice to ask, before bombarding the unicorn with questions, because he was sure Zeke had another for every one Rhys could think of.
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Jun 06, 2013 8:41 am | |
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“I guess that’s fair,” Zeke nodded when Maurice explained he hadn’t tried before and thus didn’t know how long he had been able to. “Just be glad it all came out right the first time around. Baby babble is such a horrible nuisance.” The young man shuddered briefly at the memory of having had to look after his younger sister’s baby at some point. Never again!
When Rhys asked if the unicorn had anything to say to them, Zeke wasn’t quite sure he wanted to hear it but it was hardly a nice thing to tell him to shut up just when he had started talking. Shooting a look at Maurice, which the latter returned with a level stare, Zeke waited for it but the unicorn remained silent. Maybe some things were just better left unsaid.
“If I may cut in,” Zeke said before the unicorn could change its mind – he was sure it had a lot of nice things to say about the magician though -, “I think there are many questions we all have, including you Maurice. And I think that also leads to needing to find one of your family members, preferably your mother, as soon as possible, don’t you think? Wouldn’t she be the one to tell you exactly what you are or will be able to do?”
Looking at Rhys, Zeke raised a questioning eyebrow. Would this be the next part of their adventure? Something they maybe should have considered earlier on already. After all, as Maurice had stated himself, he was only just a foal and as much as Rhys seemed to love playing the parent, he was not a good substitute for a real mother, at least not over a prolonged period of time and especially without knowing what they really had at their hands.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon Jun 10, 2013 9:55 pm | |
| “I think baby babble is quite endearing…” Rhys objected quietly. He quickly realised that he sounded very strange saying that, and shut up. That reminded him that Elli was probably missing him, but she was always dashing off on her own anyway. She might not have even noticed he was gone. But that was all beside the point, so he cleared his throat and focused on Maurice again.
Maurice was quite silent. Well wasn't he just the most helpful little creature there ever had been. Rhys was about to demand some sort of explanation when Zeke took over, with much more tact that Rhys was going to employ. He wasn't sure how to feel about finding Maurice’s real parents, as he had grown quite attached to the unicorn, but he had to admit that it was the only logical thing to do.
“Mother… how will I find her? I hatched with the two of you, so…” Maurice looked confused. Hmm, how could they explain the idea of Maurice’s biological mother to him, when the only other living things he knew were his travelling companions. “Well, we were just looking after you until we could find you mother – that is, the one who… laid your egg I assume? She will look like you, not like Zeke and I.” he said slowly, trying to get his head around the idea of a second rainbow zombie unicorn wandering the countryside.
“Yes then, that sounds preferable.” Maurice announced, sounding very proper again. In fact, he was more civilised that Rhys had been as a messenger, and it was his job to talk like a ponce. As thrilling as the idea was, Rhys was not moving until morning. He had found a patch of grass with no stones in, and he had a feeling it would hurt to get up again when he did thanks to the antics of the day. “Well, we can talk about what to do in the morning, unless either of you wants to decide tonight?”
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Wed Jun 12, 2013 12:59 pm | |
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Zeke nodded along to Rhys’ explanation and he seemed a little relieved that Maurice seemed to agree that finding his mother might be a priority. Then again, the decision had not yet been made, but just like the trickster, Zeke wasn’t really up for moving anymore. The day had been eventful enough and climbing up trees had really taken it out of him. He wasn’t quite sure how many blues he would have in the morning, not to mention sore muscles. Already the bruises had been plentiful, but alas, there was nothing to be done about that. He had them now, so he was going to suffer through it. However, he wasn’t going to make it worse by wandering through the night without a few hours of decent rest.
“Aye, let’s sleep over this before we decide anything. It wouldn’t be the wisest thing either way to go wandering off into the night now, and I think we’ve all had enough for one day.” Zeke looked at the unicorn to see if the latter agreed, but already Maurice had his head snuggled onto his forelegs, body firmly pressed against Rhys. Seemed to him as though the topic was closed for the time being. He went back to finishing off dinner and the remainder of the evening passed in relative silence with the odd small talk in between. It was quiet, but it was nice. And not too long after they had eaten, they drifted off into the land of dreams.
The next morning, Zeke awoke feeling stiff and sore all over. And here he had been thinking that he was rather fit and could handle climbing up a few trees. Apparently not.
Groaning, he rolled onto his back and stared up into the sky, which was slowly starting to be illuminated by the rising sun. “Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful morning,” Zeke muttered as he tried stretching without calling out in pain.
“How are the two of you?” he asked once everyone was stirring. “Can you move? Are you alright? Everyone still in one piece or have the sore muscles fallen off?” He could barely laugh at his own attempt of a joke but he finally did manage to get himself into a somewhat sitting position, in which he instantly froze.
Frantically looking around, Zeke didn’t see anything unusual, then he jumped up and stared down at the river but there was nothing there either. Weird. Why…? How…? “Rhys? When did Maurice disappear?”
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Wed Jun 12, 2013 1:32 pm | |
| After dinner, Rhys fell asleep quickly, and was happy to leave all decisions until the morning, which arrived unfairly quickly. Rhys awoke to the sound of Zeke getting himself up, and opened his eye sleepily. He grunted and tried to sit up, but everything hurt even more that it had the night before, and he had a small, red patch on his shirt from where he had damaged his scar. It hurt as he moved, and Rhys let loose a stream of the foulest curses he knew as he forced himself upright. “I’ve been better,” he said through his teeth when he was done, “but it’s nothing a gentle walk won’t loosen up. What about you, Maurice?” He asked, looking around for the unicorn. His face fell – mirroring Zeke’s look of shock.
“I didn’t notice him go – it must have been during the night.” He said slowly, standing up to get a better view of the surroundings. “I wonder where he went – and why…” he muttered, looking for some kind of a clue. “He’s probably just looking about, try not to worry. Elli is always going off, so it must just be something to do with little ones.” He wasn't sure if he had mentioned Elli before or not, but he was sure Zeke would ask if he hadn’t.
Looking around, there was a tiny clump of fur on the grass a little way off, following a line that ran parallel to the river. Zeke had already checked the river itself, but following its course might be the best idea for the time being. “He must have already been gone a while, or else he would have woken me, so maybe we should just follow the river and see if we spot him? It looks like he went that way rather than behind us, so we can’t go far wrong.” Rhys suggested hopefully. | |
| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Wed Jun 12, 2013 8:50 pm | |
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“Elli?” For a moment, Zeke was distracted from the questions surrounding the mysterious disappearance of Maurice. “Who is Elli?” A little one apparently, which might be where Rhys got his hand for young beings from. Or had Rhys mentioned her before? No, he was sure he would have remembered it, if he had, wouldn’t he?
Soon enough however, his attention focused back on finding Maurice. Funny how he was so worried about the unicorn having wandered off when he wasn’t even that fond of the beast. At least that feeling had always been mutual. Sometimes Zeke did wonder why he was even putting up with Maurice in the first place, but of course, seeing a hatchling of any kind without a parent nearby, what are you going to do? Leave it to die? Hardly...
“Mhh, you’re right,” Zeke agreed as he looked at the patch of fur Rhys had pointed out. “Alright, let’s pack up and go for a little wander then. Hopefully that’ll loosen up our beaten bodies at the same time.” They both knew it would help but finding the motivation of actually getting up and moving was the hardest bit about this exercise. Sure enough though, once they were walking, Zeke was gradually starting to feel a little better, able to move his legs and arms with a little more swing to them.
“Do you think he left in search of his mother? Or his father?” Zeke asked, wondering if it was the fact that they had managed that a mother would be a good thing for Maurice that had made him think they didn’t want him around anymore. He couldn’t be sure of course but wasn’t that what young ones often thought? Heck, it was part of the reason he had trouble with this own family and he still couldn’t understand why his sister never left but stuck it out instead.
“As long as nothing has happened at least...” Where did all this blatant concern come from anyway? It wasn’t quite like him. The river was slowly passing by them without much of a hint as to Maurice’s whereabouts, but if the unicorn had gone on to follow the river, then they would have to catch up to him sooner or later, even if he had a few hours head start.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Wed Jun 12, 2013 9:44 pm | |
| “Oh, she’s my…” Rhys began to speak, before realising it was all quite complicated. “Erm, well, she’s a young dragon, about yay high, and she kind of came into my care the same way as we found Maurice. It’s a bit complicated.” He explained, gesturing with his hand to just below knee level. Well hell, maybe ‘mother Rhys’ was a good name after all, although Elli always called him ‘daddy’.
He quickly turned his thoughts back to the unicorn, because he knew Elli was safe in Jiluria. Even though he wasn't there, there were people who would make sure she had everything she needed. Maurice, however, only had the two travellers, and was missing. He didn’t really have anything to pack up, since his possessions hadn’t left his pockets, so they were ready to leave quickly. Rhys felt stiff and broken as they started to walk, but a few yards and a heavy swig of whiskey later, he was relaxing into the motion fine.
“I can’t think what else would send him off on his own. It’s natural curiosity, I guess, wanting to figure out who your parents are.” Rhys knew all about how that felt too. He didn’t understand why Maurice didn’t wait for them, though. The plan was to find his mother anyway, so why was the young unicorn in such a hurry that he couldn’t wait for his companions to wake up? It was very odd… very odd indeed.
Rhys was acting very calm and collected, but he was genuinely very concerned. He was used to Elli vanishing at regular intervals, but he didn’t know how Maurice would react on his own. After yesterday, maybe he should have been more confident that the unicorn could look after himself, but somehow Rhys didn’t think it was the simple. “I’m sure nothing has – it’s the general public I’d be worried about.” Rhys tried to jest, but he wasn't sure how well he had pulled it off. He was too tense to laugh.
As they continued, Rhys became more confident that they would catch up to the unicorn any second. Maurice had had trouble keeping up with them, and now the two men were keeping a fairly fast pace since they were so concerned. He must be just ahead- he was sure. But every time they turned a slight corner, or passed a suitable hiding spot, they found it empty. Where /had/ Maurice gotten to? | |
| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Jun 16, 2013 9:02 am | |
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‘Mother Rhys, now would you look at that’, Zeke thought with a grin but he didn’t say anything along those lines. Seeing that Rhys was on an adventure trip with him, it begged the question where she was at this moment in time, considering that she seemed to still be fairly young, but the trickster had brushed it off fairly quickly, so Zeke decided not to pry. More than likely, she was safe and sound somewhere nice.
Unlike Maurice. Well, he hoped that wasn’t quite true. The unicorn may not be around and may have left in the middle of the night but that did not necessarily mean that he wasn’t alright. He still wasn’t quite sure why he cared so much seeing that the two of them didn’t have the best of connections but he figured it was because they had found his egg. Maybe he was a bit softer around the edges than he had always thought.
Zeke laughed at Rhys’ attempt at a joke, though it was a bit strained. “Yes, actually. Maybe it really is the general public we should be worried about rather than Maurice himself. After yesterday...” He drifted off, not wanting to finish the sentence or the implications thereof. There was no need to state the obvious and he wasn’t quite sure talking about the last day’s incidents was a good idea.
“You’d think he’d be around here somewhere,” he muttered as he yet again fruitlessly inspected a hiding place.
“Who would be?” A rough voice suddenly asked from behind him and Zeke almost jumped several feet into the air. Where the hell had that voice come from?! They were alone in this place! There was nothing to be seen for many, many paces all around them. They were on practically flat ground. How?!
Looking at Rhys, Zeke slowly turned around, not quite sure he wanted to know what they were facing now. Ghosts? More fairies? Spirits? This was just ridiculous!
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Fri Jun 28, 2013 10:03 pm | |
| Rhys was just settling into looking, still quietly confident that they would find Maurice without any trouble. “I think we should maybe not mention yesterday – not for a while at least. I dunno about you, but I’m still sore from that particular adventure.” He was a little more light hearted this time, growing more comfortable with the quietness out here, away from the cities. When that voice sounded, however, things changed. He let out a little squeak, sounding the least manly he had in his whole life, and jumped behind Zeke in one fluid movement.
People outside. That was what he had been scared of – especially one that jumped out of nowhere. They came with sabres and dirks and daggers… a shiver ran down Rhys’ spine as he tried desperately to pinpoint the source of the sound. He couldn’t see a thing, and was convinced that whoever it was was hidden in the blind spot created by his eyepatch, until he realised Zeke couldn’t see them either. Realising that, he settled. He stayed on the balls of his feet, ready to run if needs be, but he wasn't quite as stiff with terror as he had been. “Who goes there?” he shouted, in a gruff voice to compensate for the terribly high noise he had made when he was surprised.
“You won’t see me, so you can stop looking.” The voice replied, echoing oddly so that the sound came from all around the two men. “I’m in the air and earth, hidden from you.” Rhys could believe that – after all they had just seen a fairy tavern in a forest of killer trees, so a mysterious voice I the air with nothing attached was nothing, but he was still uncomfortable. It was some trickery, like Rhys used in his act. It was just a case of finding the pathetic magician responsible.
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:56 am | |
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It was unsettling, to say the least, to be able to hear a voice but not see whoever the voice belonged to. It felt like sorcery. But still, the two companions, and their currently missing four-legged partner in crime, had experienced so much over the course of the past few days that Zeke wasn’t all too terribly surprised when there was suddenly a voice without any more substance to it than that, and it seemed that Rhys seemed fairly alright with this too.
After the uneasy tingling in his stomach had settled a bit, Zeke quite simply accepted the voice’s explanation and didn’t request any further details. “In the air and earth, well alright then,” he thought, not wanting to bother with screwing his brain to find the trick or the illusion, if there even was one. Considering the fairies, he was willing to believe this may just be some sort of spirit.
“Well, if we can’t see you anyways, but you can see us, and probably everything else in this area… Maybe you could point us in the right direction?” Zeke asked, hoping for a positive response but there was none. For a brief moment, he wondered if the voice had already departed, but he continued nonetheless. “When we woke up this morning, Maurice, our unicorn companion, had disappeared and we are now looking for him. We think he went along this way, but we cannot be sure and we would have thought that by now we would have happened upon him. Have you seen him? Could you tell us where he is or where he went?”
The young man wasn’t quite sure they were going to get a response but it had been a try, had it not? Looking at Rhys, he tried not to grin at the disconcerted look on the man’s face. It wasn’t always easy being on the road with Zeke. He really did have a knack for attracting trouble or odd occurrences, to say the least.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sat Jul 06, 2013 7:29 am | |
| ((if this is too weird, let me know and I’ll do something else XD))
The voice (whatever it was, although Rhys stood by the thought that it was just a man hiding somewhere nearby) went quiet at the request. “Zeke, you didn’t really think it would be that easy, did you?” he began to say, when the voice suddenly returned. It made him jump again, although not quite as spectacularly as it had the first time.
“I did see something a little like that, but I wouldn’t suggest you follow it. Your companion is dangerous, maybe I shouldn’t tell you where he is to protect the two of you…” the voice pondered. That was enough to challenge Rhys’ temper, and he snapped. “Damnit you have no right to tell us who we may follow. You’re going to help us, or so help me I’ll tear through this whole freaky place and find you.” He shouted. It was unlike him – he usually had such a mild manner, but underneath it turned out his temper was shorter than he had realised.
The voice went quiet again. “Great, now it’s buggered off too.” Rhys grumbled under his breath, before a strong wind rushed back over the grass. “Your ‘friend’, as it may not surprise you, is welcome in many secret places. To find him, you must find said secret places.” Riddles, great. Rhys was about to curse again when the eerie wind picked up, swirling around the two of them, before focusing on the grass by their feet. The earth buckled, and even the river, several yards away by then, swayed and leapt. The land and sky twisted apart, leaving an empty gap between the two that finally settles in the shape of a narrow archway.
“Bloody hell…” Rhys’ eyes had grown wide. Maybe this mysterious voice was not a magician after all – a sorcerer seemed more likely now. He turned to Zeke, his eyebrow raised and gawped at the strange archway that the words seemed to have bent around. Suddenly he wasn't so sure he wanted to find Maurice…
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sat Jul 06, 2013 7:00 pm | |
|
“I guess n...,” Zeke was about to say, agreeing with Rhys’ prediction of flat-out asking being too easy but he stopped midsentence when the voice sounded again. And the sudden flare of Rhys’ anger came as a surprise to him too, though he could understand that quite well. He wasn’t too fond of being told what to do or what not to do either. Plus, they already knew that something about Maurice was off, so why would they care now? They hadn’t before.
Patting his companion on the shoulder, Zeke said. “Don’t worry about it. If it doesn’t want to tell us, we’ll just find him ourselves. We’ll find him, don’t worry.” Motherly instincts were finally showing a little more in the young man too now, even if they were more for Rhys rather than for the baby unicorn they had lost.
Any kind of gentle feeling he might have had however, was slowly dissipating upon hearing the newest quest they had been handed. “Secret places? What secret places? What on earth is this voice talking about?” Zeke heaved a heavy sigh. “I like riddles, and I like secret places. I really, really do, but not quite under these circumstances.” As much as he liked his adventures, this just seemed a little too odd, but what else were they supposed to do? If they wanted to find Maurice again, well then this was what they had to do. No way around it.
The wind had a creepy feel to it though and it made Zeke really aware of how freakish this whole situation was. But, they had survived an attack by zombie thugs – this should be a piece of cake, right?
“This is really rather odd, Rhys,” he muttered so only the trickster could hear him, hopefully. When the archway suddenly appeared before them, his mouth literally dropped open and all he could do was stared dumbly at the mysterious appearance. “I have never experienced anything like this,” he muttered, dumbstruck by this occurrence.
Feeling Rhys’ eyes on him, he forced himself to tear his eyes away from the magical door and towards his friend. “We’ve come this far,” he said, shrugging as suddenly his adventurous spirit returned. “We asked, we were responded to. Let’s go check it out.”
Not giving Rhys the choice to even contradict, Zeke shouted a thank you at the voice, grabbed his partner by the arm and stepped through the archway.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sat Jul 06, 2013 8:51 pm | |
| Zeke seemed much more curious than Rhys was. “Oh I don’t know, it looks – AHH!” he cried as Zeke caught hold of his sleeve an leapt through the archway. Behind them, normality curved back into shape, but weirdly he could still see the archway as well. He didn’t know if it would still be visible when they got back, but it was too late to back out of finding Maurice. Besides which: although Rhys was selfish, he wasn't so selfish that his worry about the unicorn could be forgotten easily.
Before them the countryside appeared to continue as normal. There was no dripping goo or anything, and if he hadn’t jut been dragged through a tiny opening in reality, he wouldn’t have believed anything had changed. But on this side, there was a faint path in the grass. “I guess we’re goin’ that way, right?” He grumbled, not sure he had the energy for any more ‘adventures’. When he got back, he would have a long break - maybe even become a recluse for a year or so to recover.
Any plans Rhys may have had about escaping this odd place, which he annoyingly couldn’t even find anything odd about, were dashed when he saw something on the path: a tiny piece of multi-coloured fluff. So Maurice really had found his way in here - the mysterious voice wasn't lying. That was extremely irritating too.
Rhys helped himself to another generous mouthful of whiskey, and looked around. There had to be something strange here – something out of place. He needed proof that they had moved. There was nothing except the path. Maybe there would be something further along the path, he didn’t know. All they could do for now was look for Maurice.
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Jul 07, 2013 7:06 am | |
|
“Huh, imagine that,” Zeke muttered as he cast around a surprised glance. “It looks just like the place we were in, as though nothing has changed. Are you sure this is right?” It seemed odd to him that the landscape continued just as it had before when they were supposedly in a secret place now. Then again, not every secret place was meant to be completely out of the ordinary, right?
When Rhys pointed out the path, Zeke had missed, he nodded. “Seems so. Let’s see where it will take us.” Following Rhys’ look when the man suddenly became still, he saw the patch of fur as well, once again nodding. They definitely were in the right place.
Clapping his friend on the back after he had swallowed his swig of whiskey – he wouldn’t be so inconsiderate as to clap him on the back while he was trying to swallow, though he had done such things before as well, resulting in a spray of liquid, which was quite fun – Zeke took a deep breath. “He is here somewhere, which means we are going to find him sooner or later, even if we have to call upon a mysterious voice again. We are going to find him!”
As they walked along the path, nothing seemed to even remotely give a clue as to this place being any different from the normal world and Zeke wasn’t sure whether the archway hadn’t just been an illusion. It was all so... the same? Then again, the path hadn’t been there, but maybe they simply hadn’t properly seen it? And come to think of it, they hadn’t found any patches of fur, so maybe this place really was different after all.
Up ahead on the path, Zeke thought he saw something move and quickly pointed it out to Rhys. “Do you think that might be Maurice? We really should have caught up with him by now, don’t you think? He couldn’t have gotten that far ahead of us.”
Just as he was about to step up the pace, the creature on the path further up ahead, disappeared behind a sort of bump in the road, and soon after a shriek could be heard and then a louder roar. All of a sudden the sounds stopped again and a complete silence settled over the path. Not even the sounds of birds were to be heard. “What... just happened? Was that Maurice?” Zeke asked, his voice shaking a little as he tried not to let his imagination run wild as he looked at Rhys questioningly.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Thu Jul 11, 2013 6:19 pm | |
| “Give it time,” Rhys grumbled, “we’ve got a way t’ go yet.” He refused to believe that there was nothing unusual this side of the freaky little doorway. He coughed a little as Zeke clapped him on the back, thankful that he had at least finished his mouthful of whiskey, and straightened up, nodding. “Tha’s the spirit…” he grumbled, still not sold on the idea, but following the path slowly anyway. He was limping a little, as a good night’s sleep only seemed to have made his old wound worse, and it was uncomfortable to pull his left leg all the way forward, but other than that he was fine.
The motion on the path ahead was too small for Rhys to make out from that distance – his eyesight wasn’t especially clear any longer, even for someone with only one eye. “I dunno, it could be.” He said, squinting to get a better view and speeding up. The noise that followed stopped him dead in his tracks. “What the hell..?” he turned to face Zeke, who looked equally shocked. “Sounds like, but which was ‘im, the squeal or the roar?” he asked nervously, looking ahead. He hoped the roar belonged to Maurice, because he didn’t want to contemplate the idea of something that could make their zombie-unicorn companion shriek like a frightened little girl.
“Well we’d better go ‘elp ‘im of it was.” He said protectively, dashing off down the path. He didn’t know what he was going to do, or if it even was Maurice, but he felt better for doing something.
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sat Jul 13, 2013 1:04 pm | |
|
“I’m not quite sure...,” Zeke replied, wondering himself which one of the noises had been Maurice. It was hard to tell without seeing anything, plus with the way the unicorn had been acting lately, anything was possible.
As soon as Rhys rushed off, he followed close on his heel. If Maurice needed help then they were both going to be there for him. The seconds seemed to stretch into minutes, even hours until they finally reached that cursed bump in the road. As soon as they arrived, they would finally see what had happened.
“Wha..?!” Once again, Zeke was lost for words when he stared at the scene before him. How was it possible that everything just got weirder and weirder?! Of course, they were apparently in a different world and not their own, but, this he had not expected.
The voice had been right. This place really was different from their normal world but so far, it had not been very apparent but now that they had left the portal a good ways behind them and were stepping into seemingly a different part of this world, Zeke could not deny the truth in those words. In front of the two men, instead of the grass they had just been dashing across, there was nothing but orange-brown earth with only tiny patches of grass here and there, some bushes but no trees, and a teeny tiny river winding its way through but not large enough for there to be grass further than just a few steps around its banks.
Not far away from them, Maurice and some sort of creature with four legs, wings and a spiky tail – Zeke could not distinguish more in his astonishment – were in a deadlock, each frantically trying to gain the upper hand but neither managing to do so. “I... are they fighting or mating?!” Their combat style looked so extraordinary that the young man really wasn’t sure, though there wasn’t any doubt to be had especially judging by the angry growls and hisses regularly emitted by both of the beings.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sat Jul 13, 2013 6:25 pm | |
| Apparently normality only continued until the first bump in the road. Rhys found that strangely comforting, since he could at least tell they were on the right (well, wrong) side of the odd door. The barren grassland was still a little unsettling – it looked an unusually bright shade of baked-earth-orange. The spiky looking creature fighting with Maurice looked right at home there though.
The fight was frightening. Both creatures were snarling and growling, among other noises. Zekes question, however, reduced Rhys to giggles, despite the seriousness of Maurice’s situation potentially. “I’m pretty sure it’s fighting,” he said, trying and failing to disguise his outburst as a coughing fit, “but I suppose y’ never know…” He couldn’t take that seriously, and it amused him greatly.
He watched for a while, because the odd, circling fight was strangely mesmerising, before turning to Zeke. “Do y’ thing we should ‘elp ‘im?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. He wasn’t exactly sure what they could do to help, but it seemed like they should be doing something.
The roar went up again, and it turned out that actually both parties were capable of that terrifying noise. They looked like they were doing a very vicious dance. Rhys had no idea what had compelled him to do so, but he pulled a red handkerchief out on his left sleeve (where it had been hidden in a secret pocket designed to make his tricks easier) and waved it, vaguely hoping to break up the fight. It worked with bulls, right? Or was it the other way around… Rhys wasn’t sure.
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Jul 14, 2013 2:47 pm | |
|
Zeke had been wondering the same thing as Rhys, though he hadn’t quite known how to break up the fight. How did you go in between two fighters without getting scratches and bruises yourself? Or in this case, who knew what they might get if they dared come between them? But something needed to be done. That was for sure.
When Rhys waved his red handkerchief all of a sudden, he already wanted to shoot a fairly mocking question at the trickster but somehow, the man seemed to have had the right idea. Zeke couldn’t quite believe his eyes but after a few moments of waving the red cloth about the fighting parties broke up and were both staring at the handkerchief, the darker one pawing at the ground as if it were preparing to launch an attack.
“You know, it may have sounded like a good idea in your head,” Zeke started, “but are you really positive this was the way to go?” Before he could say anything else, both Maurice and his opponent were suddenly charging and rushing towards the two men at full speed. “Oh this is not good. Not good!” The unicorn however was sometimes sneaking a peek at its enemy and Zeke frowned at the behaviour. They didn’t have much time but on impulse, he grabbed Rhys. “Stay where you are. I think Maurice may have a plan.”
The animals were further away than Zeke had initially imagined but still they were advancing very quickly and at fairly high speed. If something didn’t happen soon then him and Rhys would be crushed by the two. And again, Maurice was shooting a glance at the one next to him, who wasn’t paying attention to him at all however, instead solely focusing on the red handkerchief.
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| | | | Stormkatz
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Sun Jul 14, 2013 4:32 pm | |
| Rhys realised quickly that the reason they used red flags was to mae thinks angry. Damn, he hadn’t thought that one far enough through, had he? “I can see that now…” he mumbled, stuffing the handkerchief back up his sleeve, but the two fighting animals had already noticed, and were charging full force towards them. Rhys instinctively stepped back, but froze when Zeke said to stay where he was. “Stay?” He squeaked, “They’ll squash us int’ jelly!”
It was true that Maurice was looking at the thing he had been fighting though, instead of going mad for the bit of red silk like Rhys had thought. Maybe the odd unicorn did have some idea after all… but Rhys still wasn't entirely comfortable as the pair came closer and closer, accelerating all the while.
Now that it was closer, he could see the reddish creature much more clearly. It’s tail was smooth, with a sharp point on the end like a spear, and all over the rest of it were tiny spikes. It had a very long, flat head, and a chin like the bottom of a boat (barnacles included). It was really quite an ugly thing, but it was bigger than Maurice, and he had no idea what hope their companion had of beating it.
At the last moment, when Rhys’ nerve was about to break, Maurice made his move. He sped up slightly, taking the lead, and dived at the red creature’s legs. It went down, crashing into the dirt and sending up a bright orange dust cloud. When the dust cleared, the creature was lying on its spiny back, and Maurice was stood on its stomach, looked very pleased with himself. He chirped at the two humans from his perch and looked at them. “What took you two so long?”
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| | | | Eldarwen
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| | Subject: Re: Mystery and Mayhem (Stormkatz vs Eldarwen) Tue Jul 16, 2013 1:12 pm | |
|
“Wh..? What took us so long? Are you friggin’ kidding me?!” Zeke stared at Maurice, incredulous, then at Rhys to see what he thought, then back to Maurice. The little thing had not only just defeated, through a ruse but nevertheless, a creature quite larger than himself and with a lot more spikes; and now it was accusing them of being late to the party. Well that was just…!
Zeke couldn’t reply, unable to form words in his head. Usually, he was anything but at a loss for words, but this was just so completely unexpected that he didn’t know what to reply. They had been worried sick about Maurice and if it hadn’t been for that odd voice back there, they wouldn’t even have gotten into this world.
Deciding it was best not to say anything at all anymore, Zeke walked closer to the two animals and inspecting the unknown creature. “Have you ever seen anything like this, Rhys?” It really did look rather odd, especially the head. “Friend of yours?” he asked, looking back at the unicorn. Maurice just bared his teeth at him in a comical expression but didn’t consider it necessary to reply.
“What is this place anyway? At first, it looked normal, but now, here,” Zeke waved around a hand, “this is far from what normal looks like. At least to our eyes. How did you even get here, Maurice?” The creature stirred a little bit but either it was too dizzy from crashing to the ground at full-speed or it was genuinely afraid of Maurice now. Either worked fine for Zeke. Actually, on second thought, he preferred the second option, because with the first, it might just get up at some point and start attacking the unicorn again or one of the humans.
“So many questions,” Maurice sighed. “Which one do you want me to answer first?” But he didn’t look at Zeke, he looked at Rhys, the more sensible one out of the two humans.
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