FLICK
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Post by FLICK on Sept 21, 2007 2:01:00 GMT -5
Flick watched interestedly as the cougars's form changed. From cougar to eagle, horse and back. He was so engrossed in the changes that he didn't notice Snow's departure till she had left, and the campfire seemed less crowded. "Oh," he called out softly. "See you then!"
Without waiting for a response, Flick looked back at the cougar. He reached out cautiously to the bird, aware of the danger the creature could pose. It would probably be less savage than an ordinary cougar, but it was by far more dangerous. Snatching the bird by the neck, he withdrew it slowly. If the creature was uncomfortable with his closeness, it would have ample opportunity to show it.
Flick turned at another sound - crackling footsteps. Now, honestly, this was too much. Perhaps the unlikelihood of so many travellers appearing at once was what made Flick less trustful that he would normally have been.
"Victor's sister?" he asked with a raised brow, the disbelief audible in his voice. "Why didn't he mention you before? And what kind of a parent would give their children such similar names?" He crossed his arms and pouted at the woman. Despite his apparent innocence, Flick's pistol was ready by his side.
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Post by valter on Sept 21, 2007 19:55:14 GMT -5
"Oh, um bye..." Lang called softly after Snow's retreating form. I hope I'm not scaring anyone away... he added silently. Once again, discomfort began creeping in. Lang satisfied himself with drawing little figures in the dirt as the time passed, missing the whole interaction between Flick and the red-eyed cougar.
Lang had drawn an extensive, albeit crude painting in the dirt before he heard crackling footsteps. The boy froze, fearstruck, imagining myriads of monsters pouring into the clearing, and then sighed with relief when he saw that their newcomer was human. Or was she? Her name was Victoria, but she felt very familiar, even though she didn't look the same. "Did you catch anything, Victor?" Lang asked curiously, cutting across Flick's interrogations.
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Post by Chani {♥} on Sept 21, 2007 20:55:00 GMT -5
"I'd rather you didn't insult the intellect of my parents," Victoria replied to Flick, frowning. "He didn't mention me, huh? Well, I suppose you two were close enough of friends to sit and chat about your families, then?" She jerked her head to get the hair out of her face. "He doesn't talk about his family life to anyone." Her head twisted in Lang's direction. She rolled her eyes. "I'm female, boy. Female. Victor is a man's name, I'm a woman. And no, he hadn't caught anything when I met up with him. I'm a rather horrid hunter myself, but I suppose I could try." She didn't want to, she really did not. This forest was creepy and alien, especially at night. It had been even when she had been little and lived near it. A distrustful gnome, a boy who has problem discerning gender, she began thinking silently as she left, and a... cougar? Did Victor mention that? Ugh... And wait! Where did the demon go? She unsheathed her sword, focusing more on not being hunted than hunting.
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FLICK
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Post by FLICK on Sept 23, 2007 2:14:08 GMT -5
Flick scowled. "I'm serious, girl. If your parents really did name you Victor and Victoria, you wouldn't be defending their intellect. Unless, of course, you want to cast the question of your intellect into doubt. Let me assure you I wouldn't hesitate to admit my rather generous preconceptions. Besides, Victoria - what brother wouldn't mention his sister if they were travelling so close together? Where did he go, anyway?" he asked, his voice taking on mock politeness.
Flick wasn't sure who or what Victoria was, but he was almost certain she wasn't Victor's sister. He felt that if she turned just the right way in the firelight, he could almost remember her from somewhere - but he was sure that they hadn't met in his travels. He glanced away, his eyes troubled.
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Post by Chani {♥} on Sept 24, 2007 8:26:36 GMT -5
Victoria stopped dead in her tracks, becoming increasingly infuriated.
"You listen to me," she growled, "keep your nose in your own business. I'm going to hunt food for you and my brother kindled this fire. I'd hope that that alone would be enough and that you wouldn't need us to write out a history." She took in a deep breath, released it. "Besides, we weren't traveling together. I was supposed to meet him tomorrow at the river, but I became impatient. And, even if we had been traveling together, I doubt he would have mentioned me to you, despite how nosy you may be. Neither of us are very open about our family or pasts." She raised a hand, closing her eyes, and taking another deep breath. "If you have any more interrogations, stick them. Victor and I's businesses are our own and you have no right insulting our parents or prying." She turned and continued marching, this time with more force behind her steps. She half-wanted to abandon them, but Victor would be furious if she did.
I wish my body and mind were my own, she thought sadly, staring into the darkness around her and wishing fervently that she was good with a bow.
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FLICK
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Post by FLICK on Sept 25, 2007 1:23:28 GMT -5
Flick rose. "I didn't think you were very good at hunting. Remember? Or have you changed your mind?" He had more to say, but decided to hear her out. He was on the verge of getting angry with her, and that could, potentially, lead to violence - the sort of situation that rarely turned out in his favour.
When she began to walk again, he followed quietly. Her words had almost made him feel guilty, but he wasn't in the mood to drop the subject. "Look, Victoria," he began again. "I'd like to say I was sorry if it looked like I was attacking you, but I'm not. Things don't seem to add up." He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. "I have to say I don't believe you. I can't explain why, but it all just seems a little... off. So yeah, I don't want to let you wander off by yourself. As far as I know, you could have Victor tied to a tree or something. Besides. I wouldn't want you hurting yourself hunting," he added with a slight smirk.
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Post by Chani {♥} on Sept 25, 2007 7:30:25 GMT -5
"I'm not good at hunting at all, but Victor made a promise and I have an obligation to fill it," she spat. He followed her. Victoria was not easily angered. If Victor had been the one attacked, things would have already turned violent. But Victoria saved violence for self-defense most days. "I don't care if you believe me," she said calmly after he followed her. "I don't care what you think. Follow me if it'll curb your paranoia." No one had even noticed that Victor and Victoria had the same hair, only differently colored. The streaks were similarly placed (as similarly as they could be when her hair was much longer than his, anyway). She didn't know why she put up with this. Of course, she had to, but suicide seemed like such a reprieve some days. This was one of them. She ducked lower to the ground as she walked. She was stealthy, but she didn't have the eye for hunting Victor did. Nor did she have the knowledge of animals he did or the tracking skills. All she had was stealth and speed. She gave up caring about how foolish Flick would think her once she showed him how bad of a hunter she was.
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FLICK
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Post by FLICK on Sept 29, 2007 17:10:16 GMT -5
"If your family ties aren't that strong, exactly why do you feel the need to fulfill Victors promises?" Flick asked softly. He didn't want to start a fight, but he wasn't about to back down from the argument either. "Where did he go, anyway?" He cocked his head to one side.
"Wait," he whispered a second later. "Can you hear that?" A faint snuffling sound was coming from the bushes next to them. "I'd say it's a rabbit. Now will you, Victoria, or shall I have to?"
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Post by Chani {♥} on Sept 30, 2007 22:22:30 GMT -5
"You have a gnome-weapon," Victoria said shortly, referring to his pistols. "I can't kill something in the dark and ensure that the meat won't be detrimented since I have a blade. You kill it." She cleared her throat. "And I feel the need to fulfill his promises because, while our family ties are loose, they are still there," she replied. That lie came out a lot easier than the rest, since it was sort of true. He was another part of her, a part she loathed entirely, but his promises were hers. "If he can't, then I feel the obligation to. And I've no idea where he went to. He just said it was urgent." She watched Flick, not really fighting for the argument anymore. She was more interested in his weapon; she had only seen one used once before.
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FLICK
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Post by FLICK on Oct 1, 2007 0:49:40 GMT -5
"Excuses, excuses," Flick grumbled quietly, but his teeth flashed for a second in the darkness as he grinned. "And it's not a 'gnome-weapon'," he whispered, so as not to disturb the rabbit. "Not all gnomes'll have these. I made them myself, yeah, from bits of Lost Technology I've come across. I don't suppose you know anything about that sort of thing?" he inquired vaguely.
Flick was reaching for a pistol when Victoria spoke again. "Do you and your brother actually get along?" he asked, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. It was a wasted gesture - he couldn't see her face properly in the dark, and he didn't understand people at the best of times.
"Well, here goes," he murmured, more to himself than to Victoria, as he pulled the gun from its holster. Flicking a rusty switch, he dropped to a crouch, trying to crawl forward silently. "I'll have to aim this by ear," he whispered, "so - well, sorry if I miss, yeah?" Lucky it's a noisy rabbit, Flick thought to himself with a slight smile - but he opted not to inform Victoria of that. And, praying furiously that the gun wouldn't malfunction, he shot.
A crack echoed through the forest, but Flick didn't hear the scramble of paws coming from the underbrush before him one would expect from a startled rabbit. Holding his breath, he wriggled forward a little further. There, just beneath the bush with the strange berries, a dark form lay motionless, a wound in its side glistening with fresh blood.
"Hah!" he called loudly to Victoria, a smug grin plastered to his face. Straightening up, he tossed her the rabbit. It was still bleeding from a wound in its side, but he doubted she was the sort of woman who was got squeamish at that sort of thing.
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Post by Chani {♥} on Oct 1, 2007 11:37:29 GMT -5
The crack was startling, Victoria's shoulders jerked and she blinked, but she relaxed afterward.
She caught the rabbit and put it under her arm. Flick had been right in thinking she wasn't squeamish about that sort of thing; getting dirt, blood, and sweat under her fingernails came like breathing anymore.
"Lost Technology?" she repeated. "I've heard the name, but nothing more, I'm afraid." She gave a little shrug. "And no, he and I usually don't get along very well." That was most certainly the truth. "He's an arrogant ass," she added, smiling at the good feeling it gave her to be able to talk openly about Victor like this without revealing the truth. "Should we hunt for a little more? I doubt this rabbit will satisfy us all." She looked around, listened for a moment. Nothing. Her face drained of all hope.
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FLICK
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Post by FLICK on Oct 2, 2007 3:00:59 GMT -5
ooc;; Come on dudes - join in the roleplay! Surely your characters aren't just sitting mutely whist Flick and Victoria are off hunting, right?
ic;; "Ahh, that's a shame. It's a fascinating field of study," Flick told her earnestly. "Before Umbra's most recent coming - I can't really keep track of them all - the world was more technologically advanced than we are today. They called it a Golden Age, I believe. Well, anyway, Umbra squashed all that of course," he smiled ruefully, "but fragments of it still remain in the less frequented corners of the world."
The hostility, tangible between the two of them a moment ago, had all but disappeared. Because she'd dropped the argument, he could back down with his pride intact, and they'd been on the brink of coming to blows. As much has he would have hated to admit it, Flick was starting to like and even trust Victoria. Her stubborn, intelligent nature seemed admirable. Mentally cursing his nature, he laughed at Victoria's description of her brother.
"He seemed pretty friendly to me," Flick replied with a short smile. "Though I didn't really have much opportunity to talk to him, I guess - he ran off not long after I got there, and so many people seemed to be pouring into the clearing we didn't get much further than basic introductions."
Glancing at the rabbit, Flick nodded. "That definitely won't feed the whole squad - if the appearances are regular, there'll be five newcomers by the time we get back." He grinned, then went on. "I'm used to hunting alone - one rabbits easily enough for me - but I guess I'll try." He gestured towards the rough track - made by deer, he assumed - they stood on. "Shall we?"
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Post by Chani {♥} on Oct 2, 2007 13:43:19 GMT -5
Victoria had nodded interestedly while Flick explained the Golden Age to her. She wondered how she had not known all of this. It seemed like a major point in history, yet she had never been taught it. She had never heard it spoken by anyone before.
Despite her persistence and occasional hard-headedness, she found that she liked how Flick had explained things to her without making her feel ill-schooled. She was glad the interrogation had stopped.
"Oh, he's pretty friendly alright," Victoria said, though she smiled. "Especially if you have an hourglass figure and batting long eye-lashes." She looked to where he pointed at the deer tracks and hope was restored. "We shall." She grinned, adjusting the dead rabbit under her arm. "I'll bet it's sleeping. Most animals in this forest know better than to run around at night." She glanced at the rabbit under her arm. "But, as with all races and species, there are a few exceptions of intellect."
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Post by soraelna on Oct 3, 2007 19:07:19 GMT -5
Snow lifted her head at a crack coming from the campsite. She sniffed the air carefully. It was only the almost burnt scent of gunpowder that met her nose, along with the scent of the gnome, so she continued her silent stalking through the forest. She had changed into her true form for the hunt; it was just much easier that way.
Her true form had all the normal snow leopard features: black, gray, and white spotted pelt, rounded ears, and large paws. Her eyes and tail remained the same, but all of her senses were greatly heightened. The only thing that was drastically different from any snow leopard was her size. In her true form she was nearly the size of a horse, but that did not hinder her ability to walk silently.
Soon she came across a deer laying in the underbrush, licking a wound it must have gotten earlier. Perfect.... She thought, lightly stepping to it's back for a better chance to catch it by surprise. She lowered her body to the ground, preparing her back legs to pounce. The deer suddenly looked up, catching Snow's scent, but after a while it looked away. That was when Snow leaped, digging her large claws into it's side. Not quite the clean kill she had hoped, but at least it didn't get away. She quickly snapped its neck to ensure a kill, then took her burden back to the campfire.
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FLICK
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Post by FLICK on Oct 7, 2007 16:25:12 GMT -5
ooc;; When Victoria's in control, can Victor hear what's going on?
Flick laughed. So Victor was that sort of person, was he? He'd met a few of those in the past, but they'd generally been drunken sots struggling to keep on their feet. Victor hadn't seemed the sort - but Flick was hardly going to press that, not with Victoria. "And, as his sister, you feel it's your moral duty to chide him for it?" he chuckled.
Flick glanced slyly at her. "If you're making any allusions to a specific gnome in that last statement, Miss Victoria," he told her, putting on a mock deeply hurt voice, "I deny them all."
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