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Post by Angel ♥ on Jun 20, 2009 17:44:05 GMT -5
"Kai..." Pari's voice was low with warning now, an undertone of fear rippling through the word. She hadn't heard him growl like that before. It was such a feral and vicious sound that she suddenly felt like she was back at the arena, watching two contestants square up to one another. This was not going to end well. How could she stand by and watch her brother and her friend fight? And how was she supposted to break them up? They would just shove her out of the way...or knowing Dariyush he would find a way to fight around her. So what she supposed to do? Grab one of their arms and and make them drag her around if they wanted to fight...or she could try and put herself between them, but that would be too much of a damsel in distress move.
For Dariyush, however, the decision about what to do was simple. He wasn't going to let some slave square up to him and get away with it. Oh no, he would teach him a lesson or two. He moved to one side as Kai darted towards him, so that the blow only just caught him, his own hands balled into fists. "No, some of us just have manners, but I guess that is a foreign idea to a slave." He taunted, biding his time to wait for Kai to run at him again, the wolf demon would tire first in this heat. He was on his toes though, having taken a stance which would make it easy for him to dodge away from an attack as well as launching into one.
Once Kai was in reach Dariyush launched forward with a well aimed punch, feigning for his opponents stomach before his other hand lashed out for Kai's face. From watching them at the arena he figured that the slaves fought more on instinct than from any technical knowledge. Dariyush, on the otherhand, was in training for taking over the acadamy and he had studied several different fighting techniques...so using them against Kai shouldn't be too hard, right? Then again, he would have to try not to under estimate the slave, afterall, he had been a fighter al his life too.
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Jun 21, 2009 9:08:55 GMT -5
"Oh, we have manners. We just choose not to use them in front of the paying customers." Kai retorted softly, seeing the blow speed towards his face a split second before it landed, tilting his head and arching out of the way so that it just grazed his cheek, landing in an elegant, animalistic crouch on the sand a few feet away. Slaves did tend to fight on instinct, especially newer slaves, but Kai had been there for a over five decades, and instinct was perfected as far as it could go, so he had had to learn a few other tactics for when his instincts let him down. Psht, stupid noble. It was one thing to learn different techniques to take over as the head of an academy, but an entirely different thing altogether when the next technique you used might not work and you could end up half dead. You had to learn fast, and not be afraid to play dirty.
And Kai definitely wasn't afraid to do that either. Pride he had, but not when it came to surviving. He dashed forwards again after only a quick breather, jumping remarkably high to aim a kick at Dariyush's face, but when he landed he took no time in making a quick sweep of his arm to send a spray of sand towards the noble in an attempt to blind him, before leaping up again to attack with a string of hard, fast strikes. He was quickly going to tire in this heat, no doubt about it; he was already getting hot and bothered just dodging around his opponent's attacks and retaliating, let alone going on the offensive himself. But that wouldn't stop him any. He'd fight until he dropped.
He did feel rather bad after initially testing just how talented this Dariyush was, considering that when the first wave of anger started to subside a little he'd realised that he was fighting Pari's brother. Kai had no relatives that he knew of so he could only imagine what family was like, but he guessed that watching someone fight your own flesh and blood couldn't be the most pleasant of experiences. He felt considerably bad since this was Pari's brother, and she was the first person who had ever treated him with any ounce of equality, like a friend, really. Hopefully this wouldn't end as badly as he thought it was going to end.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Jun 21, 2009 11:48:12 GMT -5
A kick wasn't something that Dariyush had been expecting, but thankfully he was able to react quickly enough to stop his foot connecting squarely with his face. Instead it just skimmed his nose, busting it and sending blood dribbling down his face. Oh, he was so going to pay for that. Well, after he dealt with the sand. Throwing sand? He shouldn't have expected someone like Kai to give a clean fight. He raised and arm and looked away as quickly as he could, but he was still temporarliy blinded by the sand, stumbling back away from Kai to try and avoid recieving any serious damage. He didn't get much time to recover though as Kai launched into his attacks, Dariyush being forced into a defensive, forced to move quickly to block the attacks. His new plan was to tire Kai out, Dariyush guessing that he was much more comfortable with the heat than Kai was, and he hoped that Kai would soon run out of energy, and then Dariyush wouldn't have to waste too much of his energy on beating him up. He guessed that it was going to take to drag his little sister back to the carraige without hurting her, and he's rather save his energy for that. He did, however, notice a gap in Kai's defences, and took full advantage of it, his hand dashing though his defences to make a grab for Kai's shirt. Dariyush froze, however, as something went whizzing past his face, the sharp edge leaving a shallow cut on the bridge of his nose. He had caught sight of a smiliar blur rushing past Kai's face, again only missing by inches. Oh yeah, Pari was still there, wasn't she? He actually looked a little worried as he looked to his sister, the girl stood there with another pair of daggers in her hands. The look in her eyes was the scariest thing though, he couldn't remember the last time that he had seen her so angry. "Damn, I missed...shall I try again? Sure I'll get my targets if I try again." She arched an eyebrow at them, feigning innocence as her gaze flickered between them. "Or are you gonna stop fighting?"
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Jun 21, 2009 13:06:53 GMT -5
Kai growled a curse under his breath as Dariyush's hand snapped out to grab his shirt, and he was about to retaliate by mashing the noble's nose into his face even further when the sharp, glinting object went flitting past his cheek, leaving a thin line of red before sticking up in the ground perfectly next to the other knife. What the-- had Dariyush brought back-up and he hadn't noticed? No, of course he would have noticed, he'd have caught the scent even if nothing else. And there was other evidence too - the noble had been cut as well. Surely if he was from some famed fighting academy he could bring along a hidden ally without them managing to injure their master in the process?
Then his gaze followed Dariyush's, and Kai's blue eyes widened as he saw Pari with the daggers in her hands. It had been her? Well, he had to admit that he was surprised. With aim like that she would have been deadly if she'd been the one coming after him and not her brother, but then he got the feeling that she wouldn't have used the daggers straight away. But then the fact that she was using them now was worrying in itself. He should have known that it was a mistake to fight with her brother. He guessed he'd just have to play nice and go back to the arena, then... or provoke his new friend further so that she killed him swiftly.
Eventually he moved back from Dariyush, as if to say that he wasn't going to fight with him anymore, sighing heavily and shaking his hair out of his face. After that little exertion he was definitely feeling the heat, and he didn't particularly want to fight anymore. Bleh. "I'll stop." he muttered hesistantly.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Jun 21, 2009 17:43:51 GMT -5
Dariyush grumbled his response to Pari, not at all seeming pleased that she had intervined. "Fine, whatever," He huffed, folding his arms over his chest, ignoring the blood on his face from his bust nose. "Doesn't change anything though Pari, you're still coming home, whether you like it or not. Has all of this not shown you how much trouble you get into when you are on your own?" He sighed to her, though he didn't make a move to go any closer to her. With the daggers in her hands he didn't want to panic her, even if she thew them so that the handles hit him, it would still hurt, it might even knock him out and he was not chasing her all of the Xyndi Empire to find her again.
Pari watched them suspiciously for a long moment before deciding that they were done fighting, slowly hiding her daggers back where she had got them from. She sighed heavily, brushing her hair back from her face before looking to Kai and smiling faintly. "You don't need to look so worried." She murmured to him, moving to go over and stand by him, reaching up to gently wipe the blood from his cheek. "Sorry, I didn't know how else to stop you from hurting each other."
"Wait...Woah just wait a second Pari. You're not planning on taking him with us, are you?" Dariyush asked suddenly, rubbing at his forehead. "'Course he's coming with us." Pari answered straight away, shrugging as she looked back over her shoulder at her brother. "I'm guessing that you already paid his Master to stop him from coming after me, if we take Kai back with us no-one will ever know. If you send him back to the arena then I will go with him." She was stood with her hands on her hips now, a defiant look in her eyes. Dariyush was grinding his teeth now, not looking pleased at all. Why was his sister so damn stubborn. "Gah, fine. Do what ever you want, you generally do. Just come on and let's get out of here." He grumbled.
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Jun 22, 2009 8:02:08 GMT -5
Kai was also watching Pari carefully as she decided to sheath her daggers, as if wondering what would happen if he moved too quickly or said something innappropriate. Even in the short time that he'd known her he'd never really seen her as dangerous, not even a little. But there you go, she'd proved that just because she happened to be a good person she could definitely fight with the best of them. As he watched her you could see the animal in him fading away again, the man from the arena going back to wherever he went when Kai wasn't fighting, and he looked vaguely curious as he watched her move over to them. He didn't even look at Dariyush as he spoke, as if the noble didn't even exist to him anymore, and he took a light step back as Pari approached them.
He was honestly confused, looking away as she wiped the blood from his cheek. The little exchange between them seemed to take place as though he wasn't even there, but Kai had come to the conclusion that either Dariyush was an idiot or Pari really would kill her own brother, considering that he just resigned to whatever she said. He wasn't going back to the arena? That was new, perhaps someone should have informed him of that before he decided that he'd try to murder Pari's sibling in an attempt to die before he got dragged back into slavery. That would have been nice. "Get outta here and go where?" he asked softly as he glanced for the first time across to Dariyush, tilting his head.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Jun 22, 2009 18:03:32 GMT -5
Pari had already told Kai that she wouldn't let him go back to the arena, so he should have known that her brother turning up wouldn't change that. Plus, he hadn't given her any time to tell him anything before him and Dariyush had started to try and batter one another. She had been trying to work out how to convince Dariyush not to send Kai back, but in reality that had been easier than expected; he must have realised that she would just run away again and again and again if he sent Kai back to the arena. That and Dariyush wasn't a bad person, not really, if given the choice between taking Kai back to the arena or pretending that he hadn't seen him and letting him escape, he would have let him escape, Pari knew that.
Dariyush had turned away from them now and was walking away, back in the direction of the village, glancing back over his shoulder now and again to check that Pari and Kai were still there. "Back home, I suppose." Pari told Kai with a soft sigh, disappearing back into the oasis for a moment to go and get her bag before moving to trail after her brother, not looking too happy about this. "Back to the acadamy. We do have quite a nice garden though, it's not as nice as this oasis, but we have a little waterfall..." She told him with a small smile, as though trying to sell the idea to Kai. He did, afterall, have a choice if he wanted to go with her or not.
"You don't have to come though, if you don't want. I'd understand if you wanted to explore on your own or something." She murmured without looking at him. She didn't want him to leave. It was selfish really, but she wanted to know that he was alright. He might like it at the acadamy too, it wasn't as if he would be caged in, and he would be free to come and go as he pleased. "If you don't want to come then you can have my money. I don't need it, and I am sure that you would be able to put it to better use than I could. It would buy you food, and maybe even pay for a room, for at least a month...just until you found your feet..."
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Jun 23, 2009 11:41:35 GMT -5
Kai had never seen a waterfall, or even heard of something like the academy, so most of what she was saying was going completely over his head... and she didn't seem to be too happy about having to go back to the place either, but that could very well have something to do with the fact that she'd been trying to escape from the place above all other things for as long as he'd known her. If the half-demon had to think about it (and he didn't, he already knew what he wanted to do) then he'd have gone with her even if the place she was describing had sounded absolutely horrendous. Kai had his pride, but even he knew that he wouldn't last long out here in the heat, with the cities he knew nothing about and the strange scents and noises. Put him in the arena and ask him to last for three hours in the blistering sun, and he'd damn well do it, because that's what he was used to. He wasn't used to freedom.
He smiled at her faintly as she looked away, seeming to realise that she didn't exactly want him to leave either. That was comforting in a way, he wouldn't have wanted to be a burden or any trouble to her. "It's okay, Pari. I'll stick with you, I think. I'd not know what I was doin' if I was left alone." he shrugged to her, "It's safest if I go with you. And I'd like to get as far away from Dibos as I can, to be honest." he scowled across the desert to the vague mass of buildings in the far distance which would be Dibos. Back there was his Master, his slavery, everything he hated. He had nothing to lose by going with her. And he had everything to gain. So despite the fact that it was swelteringly hot and Kai felt rather tired, achy and regretful that he couldn't stay at the oasis, he was in pretty high spirits as they left.
He kept looking over his shoulder as they drew closer to the village again, as if to make sure the beautiful oasis hadn't been just an illusion or a mirage, but by the way his ears flicked this way and that and caught the sound of the children's laughter as they returned, he knew that it wasn't. "Where is this academy, anyway...?" he asked curiously, his voice rather quiet as he glanced to Pari, as if to make it clear that he was talking to her. He and Dariyush hadn't gotten off to the best start, and it was clear that they provoked each other's tempers all too easily. So he thought it best not to speak to the noble unless it was necessary.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Jun 26, 2009 6:09:21 GMT -5
Pari smiled as he agreed to go with her, comforted by the fact that he would be safe there. Once they were at the acadamy she doubted that anyone would recognise Kai, and even if they did, his Master would have no power there. It would be his word again Dariyush and her fathers, and it wasn't as though they would admit that she had aided Kai's escape from the arena and smuggled Kai half way across the Xyndi Empire, was it? Even though she didn't really want to go back to the academy, maybe it was better for Kai that they were being taken back. They wouldn't always be on the run and on their guards, well, he would have to settle in first, but once he was settled in he should be fine.
Pari paused to pull her dagger's from the sand as they passed them, returning both of them to their sheathes before carrying in walking. "The academy is in Malwiya, which is a couple of days carriage journey from here. The journey time varies depending on if we stop and for how long, but for some reason I think that Dariyush isn't going to stop the carriage very much. He'll want to get back to his finace." She rolled her eyes, ignoring Dariyush as he glanced back at them, apparently wondering what they were talking about.
"You should be safe at the academy. Once you are there your Master won't have much power to take you back again." She assured him, looking thoughtful as they entered the town. She glanced to the food stalls as they passed them, "Dariyush, I'm getting food." She called to her brother before diverting to one of the stalls, making sure that he didn't think that she was running away and come chasing after her. Her big brother didn't seem happy about the stop, turning and folding his arms over his chest impatiently. "Hurry up Pari, I haven't got all day. You don't think I have better things to be doing right now?" He asked, his sister simply turning to poke her tongue out at him in response to that before carrying on with what she was doing.
Once she had bought their lunches, Pari walked back over to Kai, smiling innocently to Dariyush. "Done." She told him, the man nodding and turning again. From there it wasn't far to the carriage, Dariyush moving over to hold the door open for them. "Other door is locked so don't even try it." He warned Pari, as though guessing what she was thinking as she peered into the carriage. "Anyone would think you didn't trust me." She huffed a little before clambering into the carriage, moving to sit at the far side so that Kai could sit with her, leaving the bench opposite for Dariyush.
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Jun 26, 2009 10:43:45 GMT -5
"Malwiya..." he sounded the word out loud as if to get a feel for it, watching the breeze blow the sand around them as they neared Sinna once more, and a faint smile crossed his face. Being in the arena all the time meant that the only time he ever heard of new places was from other slaves that had come from different parts of the world. He'd even met a couple who said they were from Avalas, or from Quem, attacked by pirates on the Aquios Ocean and dragged back here to be sold as slaves. They all spoke Common to one another, but even then the accent was obvious. Kai often wondered if his accent was from Ising, but then he had no idea what language was spoken there. His mother had taught him a little Common and that was from his father, an Avalan. So he guessed he'd speak the same way... or he had done, until it was warped by years of speaking with others from the Empire.
"Anywhere sounds better than here, to be honest." he smirked to himself, though his gaze darkened ever so slightly at the mentioning of his Master. He didn't want to even think about him anymore... he knew it would be years and years before the memory even started to fade, before the mannerisms of slavery began to loosen their grip on him, but the first step was never to let himself dwell on his Master again. And he didn't plan to. He paused with Dariyush as she darted off to buy them food, Kai ignoring the weird looks people were giving them as they passed; he'd forgotten the cloak, having left it back at the oasis, but currently he couldn't care less who saw him. You'd think they'd never seen a half-demon before; he couldn't resist a light chuckle to himself at that. No, they probably hadn't. Nevermind.
He wasn't sad to see the carriage because of the sun that was blazing overhead; you could tell what Kai would be doing for the majority of the start of their journey until the sun began to go down, and it involved little more than keeping his eyes closed and dreaming of being some where cooler, where the snow still fell and a frozen ocean sprawled around him. It would be good if he could actually really remember any of those things, wouldn't it? He clambered in after Pari, smirking at the distrust in Dariyush's eyes. He could see why she would want to leave again, but to be perfectly honest Kai wasn't exactly unhappy to be going away from Dibos. He was just glad to have avoided the arena, for now, moving to sit down next to her, batting away some of the sand from his ears. Bloody desert.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Jun 26, 2009 16:56:59 GMT -5
Dariyush clambered into the carriage and closed the door behind him, pausing to lock the door before banging on the roof to signal to the driver that they could set off. The silence in the carriage was akward, Dariyush sitting with his arms crossed, pretty much glaring across at Kai. It was more than clear that he disliked the half demon, but there was also a hint of suspicion there. Roshan had been right when he said that Dariyush was an over protective brother, and he was suspicious of what had happened in the time that they had been together. He'd seen the bite mark on Pari's arm, and he was going to make sure that Kai was sorry for that, but it made him wonder what else had happened.
"Stop staring like that." Pari pouted, moving to hide her arm under her bag, as though to make it impossible for him to give her that accusing look. Her brother simply rolled his eyes at her and looked out of the window. "You need that bandaging, you'll get an infection." He told her simply. "Though, why you'd still stick around something that bit you is beyond me." He added in a quieter tone, making Pari narrow her eyes at him. "You are such a bastard, you know that Dariyush? Why'd you think I ran away? Why would I stick around an arrogant idiot like you?" She snapped before turning her own gaze away and out of the window. Oh, this was going to be a long trip, wasn't it?
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Post by Vyncent Schwarz on Jun 28, 2009 11:25:54 GMT -5
Kai had settled himself in the carriage next to Pari with the ease and carefree spirit only managed by someone who had just escaped the hands of death and slavery, and nothing seemed to bother him right now. It almost seemed like the apathy that had consumed him over the last few years was turning out to be a useful asset as well as a curse, and the anger that had stirred him up just a few moments previously had disappeared all at once. Although, that could possibly be to do with the heat. Nevertheless, the suspicion and distrust in Dariyush's glare was met with a gaze which was almost as cool and icy as the colour of Kai's eyes, and the half-breed sat effortlessly in his seat as the carriage jerked forwards. It was going to be a long journey, yeah.
He had to resist giving the noble a toothy, fanged grin at his mentioning of the bite-mark on Pari's arm, but he restrained himself for the time being. It was enough for him that he knew just how to get under Dariyush's skin at the moment, he didn't need to act out petty annoyances just for the sake of it. Besides which, it wasn't in his nature to argue through words. If the noble wanted to get his revenge, by all means let him come and take a stab at it. But considering that Pari had just practically confirmed her reasons behind running away, he couldn't hold his tongue. "Maybe if you'd treated her better she wouldn't have run away." he muttered.
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Post by Angel ♥ on Jun 28, 2009 16:16:04 GMT -5
If Pari's attitude wasn't enough for him to put up with, Kai decided to join in with their little tiff too. Usually, he wouldn't have hesitated to throw Kai out of the carriage, but the glare that he recieved from his sister made him think twice. She was going to be impossible to live with for a while as it was, there was no use in aggrivating the situation. He would have to put up with Kai. Hopefully his would prove to be a disloyal little dog and wander off not long after they got back to the academy, but for some reason he didn't think that he was that lucky. Maybe he would just have to try and convince him to leave?
Instead of hitting Kai he merely narrowed his eyes at him and shook his head. "Maybe you should hold your tongue. You have no idea about our life, so keep your nose out and your comments to yourself." He grumbled before looking away from Kai, as if to signal that the conversation was over. He wasn't going into this right now, especially not with Kai. The slave had no right poking his nose into his personal business, though it did make him curious as to what Pari had been telling Kai about him. Geez, she'd probably painted him as some huge villian.
Pari was still quiet, her arms folded over her chest as she stared out of the window, refusing to even ackowledge that her brother was in the carriage. She was sulking, mainly about having to go home, but also because Dariyush was so rude. Instead of talking to him she took out the food that she had bought, sharing it out betweem herself and Kai.
The carriage ride seemed to stretch on forever, Pari eventually falling to sleep leant against the wall, her head lolling onto her shoulder. She only woke up as the carriage jolted, one of the wheels having hit a dent in the road, making her bang her head. "Ow." She mumbled and scowled, blinking in a dazed fashion as she sat up and looked around, her gaze lingering on the window. "Oh...we're here." She sighed, looking out at the large, white washed set of buildings that was the acadamy. The main house was in the center, looking much like the other mansions in the area with terracotta roof tiles, balconies and curved doorways. The other buildings were mainly on one level, all except the dormitories for the students, which was a two storey building towards the back of the complex. It was all surrounded by grass and tree's, people wandering here and there, glancing up as the carriage went by. There were even groups practicing with wooden swords and bows, everyone seeming busy and at home.
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