Return of the Emblem Chapter Eleven: Unleash

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya

"The fire's a little small- certainly will be if Robin manages to bring back anythin' decent sized," she replied to Faatina, still fiddling with the Wrathdamned tent poles.

Veronika

"Pleased to make your acquaintance Pete," she said, shaking his hand firmly. "I hope our travels are uneventful as well...what do you think is the best way to Europa from here?" she asked him. She knew the general direction, but figured someone with more expertise than herself might be able to give advice on which roads to take.

[scorri]

"Uhm, hi. I'm Lumi. You're... Luka? I just joined the group. I hear you have a pegasus too? It's great to see fellow riders. And Norbert, yeah, the black pegasus is rare, I know. My family bred for generations to get this shade of black. And even that's not quite what my father had hoped for. He wanted Star's mane and tail to be black too. I know he was hoping to breed Star in an attempt to get an all black pegasus but... Anyways, Luka! How long have you had your pegasus?"

[Ether]

Well, the tail certainly felt real, to say the least. And quite well kept, with fluffy, near silken fur that tickled the hand that chose to pet it. A light grip revealed that it did indeed feel as though there was flesh beneath the fur, as well as causing a slight stir from it's owner. The tail itself seemed to stroke against the and that held it, as if to identify the source of the unexpected touch, and upon what could be assumed to be some sort of recognition, a slight mumble could be heard from the dozing fox-woman.

"S-stop that... sparky..." Was the gist of it, some other things were muttered, but were for the most part unintelligible. Aside from the woman's position shifting from lying on her side to on her back, and the unaccosted tails moving to accommodate the new position, not much else seemed to be happening.

[Eail]

"Well.... I'm sixteen now so... Rika and I have been partners for five years!" Luka responded, and just as soon as he had spoken her name for the second time Rika had found the pink headed healer. Glad to see that he was okay after having such a terrible reaction earlier while she was gone. "Oh, hey Rika, this nice lady was just asking about you. She has a pegasus too."

Neigh

______

'This is interesting, she actually seems to like this kind of petting. It's pretty relaxing too. These tails are certainly real though, I've never even heard of body augmentation like this before... I wonder if it has any kind of side effects?'

While Zach was thinking, he went back to petting Kit's tail, not really hearing the mumbled words to stop, though there was a distinct possibility he wouldn't have anyways. "You sure an interesting woman aren't you Kit..." Zach softly said as he looked at the sleeping fox-girl.

[Mercakete]

Pegasus breeder, huh? That was interesting. "You're welcome," he uttered in reply to Luka. Lumi and Luka had started in on a conversation of their own, though, so he figured he'd just butt out. Taking a couple steps back and looking over to Rizen, he gave a quick, loud whistle. The pegasus looked up then began trotting over. Not wanting to waste any time, Norbert just began walking into camp with his hands on his hips while the pegasus followed. She could eat some more grass later. For now he intended on giving her a good brushing, letting her have some water and cleaning off the blood that drenched her horn and face. It was dry by now, but he knew how persnickety the pegasus could be and, quite frankly, she was very eager to get clean.

[Ether]

It had only been a matter of time before this petting would escalate to more than just a slight mumble, and this seemed to be about the time. As Kit awoke, it was quite obvious what the disturbance was, as the thunder sage, Zachary, seemed to have taken a hold of one of her tails and had started to pet it, apparently having completely zoned out at this point. Deciding to play about with the man a tad, since he chose to be so bold, the tail in question began to move, making it's way to the man's face and gently stroking it.

"That's quite a risque move you're making, Zach. For all you know, that might be a very special spot for me... if it was, you would have to take responsibility... or maybe that's what you wanted~?" The strange case of an Avian teased, taking hold of the man's free arm and cradling it against her chest, at the same time moving her face up to mere inches from his, giving him an outright confusing gaze... it could have been anywhere between livid or lovestruck, one couldn't be quite sure.

[Eail]

Zach was quickly broken out of his trance of petting as the tail he'd been musing over suddenly started to stroke his face. Realizing that Kit was certainly awake at this point, and well... being Kit with the teasing. Considering he was so calm from his previous actions though, he was somehow managing to not even freak out as she came so close to his face... the arm though, was a different manner all together. A blush overcoming the sage's face despite his best attempts to keep it down.

Pretty thankful that Marella currently wasn't around to see this game of back and forth Zach decided he could play too. Leaning in close to Kit's face like she had his "I'm a curious man, presented with a unique opportunity to learn. What kind of person would I be if I didn't take it, and whatever consequences might come along?"

[Ether]

[spoiler= She called his bluff... read at your own risk] 'You really think that'll work, little Sparky? This should be fun~' Kit noted to herself with a grin, as the man pushed himself forward, all the while trying to keep thoughts of his little sweetheart in mind...

"Really... any consequences at alll... human men are usually oh so... dull. I do hope you'll prove better than them~" The fox-woman cooed, her tone growing sultry as the next step was far too easy. Closing the distance that had already been made incredibly small was no feat, and the sage's lips were quickly captured, with the aggressor's dominion spreading near instantly to encompass the entirety of the bluffer's mouth. Too easy, really... Kit couldn't help but wonder just how far to string the little man along... she might have been more merciful, but he had awoken her from a pleasant dream, and had the gall to play her own game? It couldn't be called her fault if he regretted that boast of his.

Pulling back after a minute or so of antics that would make the most seasoned Parisian man blush and hide in shame, Kit gave Zachary a decisive smirk, cutting off a remnant trail of saliva with her tongue. Leading his eyes to the piece on her neck, which had been undone by a free hand, Kit gently pulled the ribbon away, and with a shrug of her shoulders to undo the last resistance, the front of her top lost any and all forms of grounding, falling uselessly into her lap. Bounding slightly forward towards the man to kiss his forehead, intentionally directing his eyes at her chest, whilst moving her tails to veil what was occurring from any outer prying eyes.

"Ah... I hope you'll be the one to make me squeal, Za-cha-ry~ If you do, I might have to give you a little bite though, so no one hears~" She teased, moving her lips down from the man;s forehead to nibble at the lobe of his right ear.

[Eail]

[spoiler= He's not cheating damn you]

Zach felt like he was about to throw up, not because Kit was unattractive, that was far from the truth, but because he hadn't expected anything like this. Something like a bit more teasing between the two, a peck on the cheek, and him doing his fainting routine.... not this.

Backing away from the woman but making sure for the love of the gods that he stayed within the confines of her tails, Zach looked Kit straight in the eyes. "Kit please... stop. This isn't what I want, you know how I feel about Marella.... just.... please. I'm sorry I touched you while you were sleeping, I'm sorry I woke you up and wanted to see if I could beat you at your own game."

"Please..."

'Oh gods Marella I'm so sorry....'

[Ether]

"You didn't last very long, did you?" Kit replied with a flat tone, fixing herself back up to presentability, before fanning her tails back out at her sides, and making some distance between them, a little over a foot, with her now sitting at leisure.

"I don't mind you touching my tails if you really want to, but I do mind being woken up from a nice dream and then faced right off with that kind of bluff. I'll admit you've got more guts than I gave you credit for, so stop being so sappy will you?" The fox-woman chided, before giving the sage a knowing glance.

"But I guess I was still a bit groggy and probably went overboard... let's say... how about I give you a little lesson on spell amplification? It's not often I get to go all out... you're not so bad, kid."

[Snowy_One]

From her spot next to Kat, Robin had seen all of Zach's exploits. Though the distance was too great for her to hear what was being said, it was clear from what she knew of Zach and his movements what was happening. At first she could feel a twang of rage at his actions inside of her. Not only had he abandoned her but now he was cheating on his girlfriend? Why that little... Then he backed away. Robin couldn't read lips, especially Ursium, but she didn't need to. She could tell his by his motions and face what he was doing.

"<Good for you Zach. You made the right choice.>"

"Kat. Maybe... Zach should come hunting with us? His lightning would be useful and... And I want to try and ease the bad blood between us."

[Eail]

Zach let out a sigh of relief as Kit made herself presentable again, a very nice sight she was to be sure, but not one that'd he wanted to see again under the same circumstances.

"I'll probably pass on the tails, or touching you in general if I can help it. No offense, but I really think I've got a good thing with Marella, and I just don't want to screw it up over something like this okay?" He explained to the fox girl.

"What kind of spell amplification are you talking about though? Something like Overcast right? I thought I'd already mastered that ability, it's certainly served me well in my battles at least with what I know of it."

[Ether]

"Then let this be a lesson to you, Zach. Your poker face isn't anywhere near good enough to get away with that kind of bluff. As for that, suit yourself, I suppose. I do give them the utmost care, so I don't mind if people take the time to appreciate them." Kit chided, before getting back to the new topic.

"You have the basics down from what I can see... but with a little fine tuning I think I can double the amount of extra power you can force into your spells." Kit concluded, as she decided that her current sitting posture was growing old, and thus laid back down atop a few of her tails.

[Rothene]

Paying no heed to anything but the tomes she was sorting through, Mireille rubbed her eyes as she leaned back for a break. The Ursian knight could have sorted them faster if she had not paused to browse through each tome reflexively.

It was then her ears caught on the faint words 'spell amplification' and something about it being taught coming from the roof. Standing up to listen intently, to make sure she was not imagining things, Mireille heard voices she recognised and the rest of the conversation to confirm her suspicions. Someone was expanding on their spellcraft and she wanted to be part of it.

Wasting no time, Mireille scrambled to the roof of the Dauntless telling Connor, "I will be back soon!"

[Snowy_One]

"Wait what?" asked Tia, downright stunned. She had heard something about 'spell-Iwillbebacksoon' and suddenly Mireille was scrambling her way up to the rooftops! Tia wasn't about to be left out of something magical like that! "Connor! Come on! We gonna find out what she's going to learn!" cried out Tia before she took off in pursuit, eager to learn what Mireille was about to learn as well about magic.

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"I'll pass. I really can't respect someone who walks around with prosthetic tails all the time," Connor said, laying Faatina's lance down and examining his collection of raw metallic materials.

[Phoenix]

Revelations

Raquel wasn't sure why she thought Gytha's revelation to her would be a distraction from her own problems. Given the very nature of said revelation, it was downright impossible for her not to think back to her own situation with her father, though Gytha's version seemed a lot less hopeless than her own as far as she could tell. Maybe Thirdgem would retire from pirating before their paths ever crossed again. Was Jethro on the other hand going to retire from working with the bad guys? Extremely doubtful from what she heard. He said he was doing this for her. She didn't know if that was Thirdgem's excuse, but as far as Raquel was concerned, it was a completely worthless excuse to do what they were doing.

"Before today I ... I probably would have been able to be more reassuring. I might have told you not to worry about having to fight your father ... that no matter what, you wouldn't be forced into something like that, but ... I wouldn't have had a clue what I was really talking about. Things look completely different now that my father and Sardis are allies. I'm not even sure what advice I could give, though I guess advice wasn't really what this was all about."

Raquel couldn't make eye contact for the moment and kept her gaze low to the dirt. "Anyway ... thank you for telling me. L-like I said, it'll just be between us. I won't tell anyone else, and if you need any help with that or ... anything really, let me know. I try not to be quite so self centered all the time but ... all this crap keeps happening and people don't really talk to me about things like this much. I just mend clothes and sell things to them." And with that, the Raquel outreach program had made its first offer. Too bad it wasn't done publicly.

Shenanigans

"Hahahahah-"

"That sounded like Gabbie," Reign muttered, looking over his shoulder to see her laughing at ... something or other. What he didn't see was that she was at a good enough angle to make out what was happening between Zachary and Kit.

"Who cares?" Shadrak replied to Reign, not really wanting much to do with Gabbie as a whole just yet. "So then, how does this work, exactly? I'm not exactly a ... tent person."

Dauntless

Once Kit began lying down again, part of one of her tails vanished as Ayano took hold of it. Well, she said she didn't mind people taking the time to appreciate them ...

Edited May 27, 2013 by Phoenix

[Mercakete]

Gytha gave Raquel a bit of a smile. "Well, thank ye, but I'll handle it meself. I can stand on me own, two feet well enough," she replied, though the look that crossed her face immediately afterward was uncertain for a moment. Returning to her smile, she went on, "I just thought it'd help ye n'...well, figured ye had a right t' know. N' I realla appreciate yer concern n' secrecy about this. 'N, well... On th' off chance ye somehow come across th' Saltstraumen -- his ship -- n' I'm not around, let 'im know ye know th' cat o' nine. If he mentions a whip, tell 'im ye mean th' other one. Best t' tell ye that now, I suppose."

She sighed a little and went on, "I realla do appreciate yer offer, Raquel. Thank ye. That was all I wanted t' talk t' ye about, so we can go back t' camp whenever ye'd like." That said, she went back to her usual, cheery grin.

[scorri]

Lumi gasped slightly at the sight of the blood stained horn, but quickly got herself under control. "Uhm... I guess that you fight with your pegasus too, huh? Not that there's anything wrong with that, I just never could risk Star like that, I just care so much about him, not to say that you don't care about Rizen, I just don't think I would even be able to fight well on a pegasus back, uhm, what I meant to say was, is she ok?" She blushed a deep red and mentally kicked herself. This was not the way she had wanted this to go...

[ReformBlade]

Hannah was flabbergasted at how fast this man was moving! I mean they only just met, what would all the other pegasi think of her? She ain't no tramp! Resisting the urge to give in, she had a better idea, instead quickly moving and nipping Star Hunter (Author's note: Thank god he's not Star Scream) on his tail before trotting away and neighing in excitement as she took to the air.

Hands on her face, grinning like an idiot, Aneda stared at Hannah as she flew off and noted that Hannah wasn't flying away so much as making delightfully acrobatic circles in the air. Looking from Star to Hannah to Star and then over to Calumeina, Aneda rushed over, poking her shoulder and pointing back to the spectacle "Are you watching this?! Oh my gosh, I've never seen her so energetic before, eeeeee!" Aneda's first though went to Pegasus babies. I get to be a mommy!

"Small fire? What, do we need like... more firewood?" That? Again? Ugh... Well if it needs to be done, someone oughtta do it. "Alright... I'll go work on that." Mushirah stated, rather unsure of where to look as she took a few steps and decided to actually look around. To her extreme dismay, there didn't seem to be much of anything resembling heavy foliage or forestry nearby, but there was a tree that happened to be somewhat nearby, a small trip back and forth wouldn't be too bad given the results!

Edited May 27, 2013 by ReformBlade

[Mercakete]

"She's fine," Norbert replied. Most everything else he thought of a reply for to Lumi she'd already answered herself. "She's just still dirty from our last battle. I don't usually involve her to this extent, but it's just over-all more effective if I do. I typically prefer to send her off while I fight but neither of us can always afford that. That's part of why I invested in some armor for her."

That was when Aneda hurried over, seeming really excited about something. Norbert himself looked over to the spectacle she pointed out, unable to help but smile. It was good to see Aneda's spirits lifted and seeing those pegasi at play was just an extra bonus. He had other things to do, however, and so left the other riders to their business as he and Rizen -- who'd caught up by now -- quietly left the scene.

[roymbrog]

“Well it’s not just food for now, probably also for tomorrow so… it’s probably best we find some more people,” Katrina agreed. She thought of possible candidates, but just kept coming up with the archers (one of which she was not going to bother), Zach, and maybe Mushirah. Perhaps Aneda would want to come, to give someone a ride. Robin suggested Zach, but Kat wasn’t sold on that idea yet. “Are you sure that’s a good idea with what’s happened between you two? Maybe we should ask him and Aneda to make another group to help out. We’d also be able to bring back more that way,” she suggested.

[Snike]

"Keep going up the road until you reach Urquium, where there's a side road that bypasses the city if you really want to travel fast," Pete said seriously. "From there, just follow the main road."

[Snowy_One]

"I can keep my mouth shut and work with him if need be." replied Robin. "But you are right about us having multiple groups. Do you want to ask Zach or should I?"

---

Meanwhile Tia quickly scrambled onto the top of the Dauntless. "Who said something about magic amplification? All I heard was the words and a sudden scuffle as she hurried out of the Dauntless. Zach? Were you the one who offered?"

[scorri]

"I, uhm, ok. Well, I'm glad she's not hurt..." Lumi stared at the ground, continuing to mentally kick herself until she heard Star neigh loudly followed by the sound of a pegasus jumping into the air. Turning around, she saw Star doing his best to keep up with Hannah's acrobatics and couldn't help the large grin that burst across her face. Turning to Aneda, she babbled excitedly, "OH MY GOODNESS, THEY'RE SO ADORABLE! Star looks so happy! I can't believe it!"