Lord of Azure Flame: Chapter 16: Fracture

[-Cynthia-]

"But you are of no help to us." Morgan said. "You provide no combat or staff abilities, so your presence here is entirely unecessary. Why risk your life for a revenge you cannot obtain...unless you are along for other motives?" Morgan narrowed her eyes at Katie.

Edited August 10, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Ether]

"The water's nice, isn't it?" Aiya commented, leaning back against the stone, now all but her head submerged.

"Still, if you're here, that means the guys know someone's here, and might follow..." Aiya trailed off, remembering the fiasco the night before.

"I do feel bad for Alf though... I keep knocking the poor guy's teeth out..." Aiya commented with a sigh.

[Snowy_One]

It's not easy, and I struggle with it myself, but the best I can say is that I've seen it this far and helped to defeat Helenos, so I might as well stay through. Besides, I can enchant things like that warding necklace I gave you.

---

"Alf saw you naked? I... I don't know if I want to call him a leech, or forgive him just this once." said Esphyr, swimming up beside Aiya. "I mean, he's a nice enough guy and all. I probably wouldn't mind if he saw a bit... Well, I mean I would leave his guts intact."

Esphyr settled down beside Aiya. "Aiya... You're friends with Damian, right?" she asked, her arm moving behind Aiya.

Edited August 10, 2010 by Snowy_One

[-Cynthia-]

"Er...I don't think so." Charlotte responded to Damian. "I didn't do it, perhaps Tessa or Pary did, but I would stay lying down for now just to be safe."

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"Convenient excuse. A trinket to win the favor of the interrogator perhaps?" Morgan raised her eyebrow at Katie. "I have noticed you trying to seduce the other Crimson Weapon wielders as well. Wheedling your way into Isotov's trust through your sandwiches and buxom charms, taking advantage of the fact that he is easily manipulated!" Morgan pointed a finger accusingly at Katie.

[Ether]

"Alf saw me last night, surely you heard it... I threw my breastplate at him in reflex, and it knocked some of his teeth out..." Aiya replied, with a bit of an embarrassed blush.

As Esphyr snaked her arm around Aiya, she tensed for a second, before calming down.

"That's an odd question. You know the answer already, don't you?"

*************************

"Alright then... wait a minute, why aren't you sure? It's morning, you mean you guys left me like this all night?!" Damian replied, not sure whether to be angry or disturbed.

[Snowy_One]

And I would say you have hexed Esphyr, seeing as she's willing to do so much for you. Besides, I learned everything I know about cooking from a TISME cookbook about a week ago, and I think you have a larger chest and rear than me. Why isn't he falling over you now that I think of it?

---

"Seeing as how you're his wife in all but title, yes. What would you do if he gave you an order that you disliked, but couldn't voice your opinion on for whatever reason?"

Edited August 10, 2010 by Snowy_One

[Ansem]

Helios, seeing that no one was going to move for a while decided to go outside. Outside, Helios decided to do some training. There was a couple of boulders that must have fallen over from last nights storm. He wanted to test his strength and this was the best time to. He closed his eyes for a second then opened it. His eyes turned a crimson red. "Hiya!" He yelled as he swung his hand in a chopping motion casting Hellsety and splitting the boulder with ease. He felt a jolt of pain go up his arm. "Guh." He groaned as Hellsety drained him. He stood up straight and then readied another spell.

[-Cynthia-]

"Hexed Esphyr? I cannot be blamed for her odd behaviour. And the rest of that...is irrelevant." Morgan said, feeling somewhat awkward all of the sudden. "Anyway, back to hexing, there have been incidents in the past where you have attempted to assualt other group members. Sabotage, perhaps?"

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"You weren't the only one injured you know." Charlotte said to Damian, slightly cross. "Anyway, I don't know how to set bones, so I was waiting until someone had done that before I mended them."

Edited August 10, 2010 by -Cynthia-

[Ether]

"Huh...? ... I-I'm not sure... I mean, we've disagreed on how to go about things before, but it's never been anything major... I guess it depends on what the order was... what is this all about, Esphyr?" Aiya asked, turning to lock eyes with the mercenary.

*********************

"A lot of damage can be done to un-mended bones during sleep, it just seems odd that you wouldn't atleast make sure they didn't move..." Damian replied, calming down.

"Sorry for jumping on you like that... needless to say, having a roof fall on me hasn't left me in the best of moods.... Still, if you aren't busy, the bones are set, at least. Do you think you could check to see if they need mending?"

Edited August 10, 2010 by Kleine

[Snowy_One]

"What if it was to kiss another woman for his pleasure?" asked Esphyr, looking at Aiya with a serious look. "No! Not me!"

---

Every third hour there is a fight, squabble, argument, or something similar in this group happening. If there was someone trying to split us apart, they wouldn't need to start the fight; just find the right button to innocently push once it had.

[Ether]

"I've kissed other girls on my own before... I've never found it as uncomfortable as so many people say it is... so something like that wouldn't be too much of a problem, so long as the other girl is nice, I guess. Did Damian ask you to do that?" Aiya replied, now sitting more upright, exposing her chest and stomach to the cool morning air.

[-Cynthia-]

"So you've been thinking about how to fracture the group? Suspicious behaviour to be sure. Our interview is concluded." Morgan said rather snappishly, before launching into another coughing fit.

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"All right then." said Charlotte, coming over to Damian. She applied her staff to the various places where the bones had been set, mending them back together. "That should do it." she said, wiping her brow. "Well, hopefully anyway, my staff didn't seem to work too well on Katie last night, perhaps it's worn out or something. I wouldn't do anything too rash." she advised.

[Snowy_One]

Are you alright?

---

"Ha!" exclaimed Esphyr as she turned to look at Aiya. "If he had asked me, he would be limping down here bending over double. I'm sorry Aiya, but I'm simply not into women. I was hoping you would answer differently tough. I... I guess I should tell you. I like Damian a lot, to the point I would even say I love him... And... But... He's with you. Literally."

[Phoenix]

Wyverns

Krinkov soon left the cave, and Kiev followed right along out of curiosity. The dark wyvern made his way down to the river. Once he arrived, he prepared to take a drink, but then he caught two scents! His head darted to Aiya and Esphyr who were together by a large stone. He then looked down at the water again. He could tell he was about to drink from downstream. He quickly hissed at them both, turned away from the water, and then walked in a huge semi-circle around them to the other side. He took a look at the water coming from upstream and was more satisfied. With that, he began to drink.

Kiev walked up to Krinkov's old spot and dipped his head in the water, looking for whatever scared off his brother, but couldn't find anything. After a moment, he popped hi head back out in confusion. Deciding to search deeper, he slid himself all the way into the river and began swimming around. Only his head and parts of his wings were visible from the surface.

[Ether]

"I know how you feel about him, Esphyr." Aiya replied, wondering why she was apologizing for not being interested in women, bot not bothering to comment on it.

"To be perfectly honest... I was scared... scared I would lose him to you, Esphyr... that he... that he would leave me..." Aiya began, her face turning to a scowl at the thought.

"... but I don't think I feel scared any more... Esphyr... I've never seen anyone so cautious in your situation. Usually, in Halton, when a man takes a second lover, she will do all she can to try to take as much of his time as possible... try to push the first away... that's why I was scared, Esphyr... I mean... you're younger than me, but you're still more... developed..." Aiya said sheepishly, consciously covering her breasts in embarrassment.

"But you are so... skittish. You always stand on the sidelines, afraid to go in too far, or to do anything... it's... something I've never seen before. I... I don't know exactly why, but Esphyr... I do trust you with him... I... wouldn't mind if you showed that love..." Aiya replied, trying to find the right words, and concerned that it came out terribly.

[-Cynthia-]

"For certain definitions of all right, yes." Morgan said, reading Katie's note. "Anyway, we should all get moving, Naelia seems to be growing impatient."

[Snowy_One]

"Your trust is misplaced." said Esphyr, looking at Aiya's chest covering hands oddly, as if wondering what there was to be ashamed of. "I mean, I've felt challenged by you. I almost want you to challenge me for him, to try to push me away instead of you so passively letting me take a shot at your lover, our lover." she said before turning to look at Kiev. She raised her hand, tracing over the wings and head before turning to Aiya and tracing over her chest. "If you were as tough and strong as a female Kiev who bloodied me and shattered my bones before forcing me away, I could handle that. I wouldn't mind it at all. It's letting me in so scott-free that's forcing me to panic, as if there was a trap in wait."

---

If your sick, you should rest. Wait about and let our body heal.

Edited August 10, 2010 by Snowy_One

[Phoenix]

Isotov and Irina

Since Katie had been busy with her interview, and Kelas had gone back to sleep, Iso decided to jump straight into his morning exercises before breakfast. Irina walked up on him and watched while he did it, bending down to get a closer look.

Irina: So that's why you're in shape. Did you have some important reason for working out?

Iso: Yeah, of course I did. the reason was staying alive. Most of the people who were with me died partly because they didn't have any endurance. Sometimes we'd have to run for hours to escape ... I was the only one who could always pull that off. Everyone else simply died.

Irina: Urgh, that's terrible. So Shanice was one of the people chasing you?

Iso: Apparently.

Irina: That means he must have killed some of your friends himself, right?

Iso: ... yeah, but what are you getting at?

Irina: ... ... well, which ones do you think he killed?

Iso: Don't know ... I'll be sure to ask him before I burn him to cinders.

[Ether]

Aiya let out an instinctive shudder as Esphyr's hand traced across her chest, before shaking her head at Esphyr's suggestion.

"And what good would that do? What if I did attack you, for loving him?" Aiya said, pulling the folding dagger out of the water and flipping it out, and back in.

"Where would that leave me? Where would that leave us? Despite you saying you would welcome it, we could never look at each other the same way again. Damian cares about you as well, if I attacked you, he would forgive me after a while... but again, things would never be quite the same. He would be more reserved, maybe even become scared that I would attack him..." Aiya continued, gently brushing one of Kiev's scales.

"Violence... challenging... is that really the way to solve this, Esphyr?" Aiya asked, turning back towards her.

[Snowy_One]

"I don't know." said Esphyr, turning away from Aiya, but also nudging up a bit so that about half of her chest was exposed. "I mean, I love Damian too, and... Well, if it came to that and I won; he would never look at me right for throwing you out. If I lost, I would be thrown out. It's win/win for you and lose/lose for me in term of whom his main lover it, and it annoys me." she said before standing up to approach Aiya right from the front. Standing tall, she extended a hand to the woman, offering to help her up. "I know it's okay with you guys to be in a multiple person relationship, and I'm not going to consider someone a heathen for it; but... Part of me is anxious to at least try, while a even larger part of me is saying I should be trying to driven you off, and a even larger part is saying 'I don't know what I should be doing'. I mean, it's a lot to consider at least. Like, you, me, and him in the same bed at least is odd no matter how you take it, right?"

[Ether]

Taking Esphyr's hand and standing as well, Aiya faced Esphyr. As she spoke, Aiya looked away somewhat guiltily.

'Does she feel this anxious about this... about a scenario that doesn't have to happen?'

Gently embracing Esphyr, Aiya began to speak.

"Neither of us needs to be thrown out, Esphyr... I know it seems... weird at first... maybe the only reason I'm not freaked out by this is because I grew up in a world where it was normal..." Aiya trailed off, still embracing Esphyr.

"But I like you, Esphyr... I know how much you care about him... I know you said my trust was misplaced... but if you were as untrustworthy as you want me to think you are... you would have run me through already... you've had every opportunity to, you'd have been his source of comfort, and he'd be yours, so long as he never found out... but you haven't done that, Esphyr." Aiya said, looking the girl in the eye.

"It'll take some getting used to, but Esphyr... I want you to try... I want to see you happy... I want to see us all happy... and if we fight... no one is happy... well, aside from that sadistic thief-bitch, but I would barely count her as human." Aiya finished, now resting her head on Esphyr's shoulder.

[Snowy_One]

"Oh Aiya." said Esphyr, her own arms wrapping around the red-haired woman as she rested her head on top of Aiya's, a single tear sliding down as she gave the girl a slight squeeze. She didn't want to say anything, nor did she feel she needed to say anything at all for a few moments. Then, at last, she pulled away and took a step back. "Thanks." she said simply before reaching out to give the girl a playful push back down into the river.

OOC: They should SO be a C at least!

[Balcerzak]

Tessa had spent an absolutely miserable night. Trapped between a storm and an enclosed space, things had been quite simply dreadful, and while she had slipped in and out of sleep, it had never been anything close to comforting or restful. When the storm had finally subsided, she had exitted the cave at once, and was waiting on the far side of the hill, just huddling, and trying to maybe get some more rest of sorts before they had to depart.

[Ether]

As Esphyr returned Aiya's embrace, the two women were still for a short while.

"Thanks."

The simple word released so much tension, so much anxiety, it was unbelievable.

As Aiya was about to reply, Esphyr agve her a playful shove, designed to push her back under the water.

"H-hey!" Aiya squeaked out as the force of the push, as well as the slippery riverbed caused her to fall over. Grabbing the closest possible support, Esphyr's outstretched arm, both girls tumbled under the water with a splash!

[Phoenix]

Kieva and Krinkovski

Kiev looked on in shock as both girls went under! Krinkov snorted at the absentminded girls and began walking off. Kiev poked his head under the water to see if they were alright, and once he saw that they were coming up, he lift his head again. After a few moments he flipped onto his back and began floating on the surface with his limbs tucked in. His tail waved back and forth like a rudder propelling him in slow circles.