Fantasy Skyheart - Little Feathers

[Elenion Aura]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

Matthias did not recall having done it, but when he looked down he noticed his sword out of his hands in its sheath. He was looking at the hand on his shoulder, his eyes fixed for a moment before breaking away.

”You do not give us much choice.” Matthias grumbled, in a voice that admitted begrudging acquiescence. Matthias realized he’d go in spite of himself, but that didn’t mean he’d be happy about it.

color=#4F82F9
SilverFlight

 

[SilverFlight]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

Ord took his hand back, and the only expression on his gentle features was one of pure relief. Like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
"Thank you..." and he meant it. "From the bottom of my heart...thank you."
He took a step back toward the group.
"So, for the most important question: Are you hurt? What about your skybeast?"
He seemed eager to help. "We will see to your friends, you needn't worry. Now that we've found you, we will do our very best to keep you all from harm."

color=#4F82F9
Elenion Aura

 

[Elenion Aura]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

Matthias permitted himself to be lead back to the others. He even looked a bit less dour than his usual self, for reasons he couldn’t quite identify. Perhaps it was Ord himself. His nature put Matthias at ease, whereas his companion... They are quite the pair, Matthias thought, but found that the thought did not sit well with him, so he shoved it away. Grateful for the distraction, Matthias told Ord of his Skybeast, Volos, who’d suffered a gash from the Deathborn attack. Then his eyebrow quirked.

”Are you a healer as well?” He didn’t bother to hide his bemusement. A man of many talents, indeed. ”And who, exactly, is we?” Surely it was not just the two of them.

color=#4F82F9
SilverFlight

 

[SilverFlight]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

Ord chuckled lightly. "Oh, I know enough of herbs and field dressings not to embarrass my heritage, but we have a real healer with us too. The academy let us have assistants on this trip, though only two, classes began three weeks ago, we've even had to postpone some to come here." He looked up at the sky as if asking for strength, "I hope master Eikkon can handle my first years...they are...ah, energetic."
He waved the thought away. "But to the point, show me your skybeast, I want to do what I can, at least until our proper healer has seen to the most severe."
As they walked he shot Matthias a suspicious sideways glance. "Are you sure you are not injured? If I may be bold, you strike me as the type who isn't...forthcoming about personal ailments."

color=#4F82F9
Elenion Aura

 

[Elenion Aura]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

Matthias grunted noncommittally. He wondered if Ord knew that their motley group had been demonstrating remarkable healing. Matthias had seen a boy with a torn open chest returned to fighting form in less than a day. Whatever injuries he had sustained paled in comparison to that. He thought to the wound he’d received to his temple during the stonewarg attack. It was nothing more now than a faded white scar.

Matthias lead Ord to where Volos lay. ”Here he is,” Matthias said with no small amount of pride. He was snoring heavily, fast asleep, but clearly favoring his un-injured side. Matthias thought, wake, and Volos cracked open an eye and stared blearily at them both.


color=#4F82F9
SilverFlight

 

[SilverFlight]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

Matthias just grunted in reply to Ord's concern and he laughed, more delighted by Matthias' gruff demeanor than surprised by it.
When Ord saw the bear his eyes lit up. "Wow! You don't see many of his kind." He took a small satchel he'd been carrying and swung it round to his front, digging out a small vial, some cotton, and a thin knife.
"I'm trusting you to make sure he doesn't take my head off." Ord said, only half-jokingly.
He knelt by Volos' injured leg and slowly moved his hands up to part the thick hair. He examined it for a few good moments before speaking.
"It's not too deep, but it might need some sutures. Nothing I can't handle. I'll have our healer check my work later."
He started by using the knife to shave away the fur lining the cut, cleaning the wound with liquid from the vial dabbed onto the cotton.
Pasha, who had been following at a distance decided to draw a bit nearer, sniffing the air close to his partner tentatively.
"This might sound a bit odd but...your memory...of events leading up to being here...is anything missing?"
Ord spoke as he worked. "It's strange, but we only know of ten students because of our records...the actual memory of our staff who were apparently involved with their training is...well, to be frank, they don't remember ever teaching them."


color=#4F82F9
Elenion Aura

 

[Elenion Aura]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

Volos rumbled a low warning growl, but made no move to stop the Sudentan from continuing the process of stitching his hide closed. All the while Matthias watched the man work in relative silence, arms folded, chiming in here or there. He had to admit himself relieved to be in the company of someone who was not his junior by a measure of years. In fact, he wondered if Ord might be his age, or even older. It was hard for Matthias to gauge. The man had an almost timeless quality about him. Perhaps it was his easy smile, or perhaps Matthias had already gone too many hours without sleep and fatigue was starting to take hold.

”What?”

Matthias didn’t try to mask the surprise in his voice. This was new information. If the professors did not remember teaching them, did anyone they met over that year remember them? Or had they been truly, thoroughly erased? And if so, by what? Or by whom? And perhaps most importantly, why?

”... None of us have any memory of the last year.” He admitted finally. Matthias felt like he was slipping further and further down a snow rabbit’s burrow. He didn’t know what he should expect to find when they all reached the bottom.

color=#4F82F9
SilverFlight

 

[SilverFlight]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

"Ah." Ord seemed to deflate a little when he learned they had no memory. It was clear he had been hoping the proven youths could fill in the blanks the academy had unearthed.
"Well, that does make things a bit more interesting." He seemed to sense Matthias' mood as well and tried to lighten it. "The fact that we have a few clues makes me think that we can regain what was lost...if whatever happened was meant to keep us in the dark, the records would have been destroyed. It'd be easy enough to do."
He finished cleaning the freshly-sutured wound by pouring the remaining contents of the vial over it and wiping his bloody hands on a clean cloth.
"There you are, that should stave off infection, but I'll send the healer around later...it would help if I knew your name, so I could tell them who to look for."

Ord stood, trying not to seem too disappointed about his dead lead. "It's a shame, but if you were there at the academy starting a year ago, I would have just begun my second year as a teacher. I graduated at 18, no one special, went and found Pasha here, got into the assistant program, became a teacher at 21."
He shot Matthias a look of mock-frustration. "To think, I don't remember a handsome face like yours..."
Ord turned back and started towards the group, where Keshka and one of the assistants has already acquired a new tent and bedding, and the second assistant was helping Katja with the wounded.


color=#4F82F9
Elenion Aura

 

[Elenion Aura]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Matthias and Ord

”Matthias.” He offered the man his name, feeling a bit foolish that it had taken him so long.

Matthias admired the man’s work. Volos seemed pleased as well, sniffing the ground where Ord had been crouching and clicking his tongue happily. Matthias wondered, as he listened to Ord explain how he’d come to be an instructor, if they had perhaps met before. More than that, he wondered if they’d ever have their full memory in tact.

At Ord’s last comment, an unguarded Matthias coughed, loudly. He stammered something unintelligible and waved the other man off, quickly looking away. Matthias hurriedly knelt down beside Volos to pretend to examine the stitching. He stayed there until Ord had gone back to the others. Volos leveled a single brown eye up at him. Matthias sighed.

” Stop judging me.”

color=#4F82F9
SilverFlight

 

[AncientBird]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Serik and Leandra

“Oh, Leandra!” Serik startled from the girl approaching him without a warning. “I didn’t expect someone to come out here...”

Serik then slid himself closer to this new Sudentarian woman he just only recently spoken with. “How are you doing? I saw you fought against those monster variantly...” Serik asked, trying to brush his anxiety aside with conversation.

Featuring: Lioness075
#EB6B56

 

[Lioness075]

Location: Proving Camp
Time: After the Assassin Deathborn Attack
Characters: Serik and Leandra

Leandra flinched when she realized she had surprised Serik. That had not been her intention. Perhaps she should have coughed or stomped a little to announce her arrival. It was too late now.

She supposed it was simply instinctive for her to feel a need to comfort anyone who was downtrodden in the group. She had always been there for Caliban and he had been there for her. Leandra had spent plenty of her childhood taking care of her little brother and then Caliban when she was a teenager. She always felt an instinctive urge to check on others and help them up, it was in her nature.

When Serik shifted closer to her, Leandra's heart briefly spiked. She had given him space and had not expected him to move closer to her just like that. After all, he was still just an acquaintance to her. As he spoke, Leandra's vision briefly flashed back to the monsters rushing at them in the tent, the searing pain of the beak tearing through her flesh. She blinked and was back at Serik's side once more. Shakily inhaling, Leandra sighed and then replied quietly, "I'm still breathing, aren't I?" She attempted a half-hearted laugh and then fell quiet once more.

Staring out at the camp and still seeing signs of destruction from the previous night, Leandra asked, "What about you? You were pretty quick to leave the tent."

AncientBird
#EB6B56

 

[AncientBird]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Serik and Leandra

Leandra tried to be cheerful to lighten up the environment and Serik was glad that she tried to. She then asked about his being and how he left the conversation in the tent earlier.

“Well, sorry if that looked childish... I had a lot to take in at the time.” Serik said with his letter still in his hand. “I am just worried for many things, in fact I have been worried for sometimes, after the thing on Mt. Arebos, after the vision... And now this...” He nodded his head toward the tent.

“I am just so confused... I don’t know what to believe. I want to believe Gerel that everything will be fine... But deep inside, I know that hope is just a bandage that cover a wound... Down there it’s still uncertain what to happen, whether the wound is cured and get infected...” Serik said. He paused for a while and continued.

“But just a moment ago, I realized that my insecurity of future is just a little thing to be worried about... In the end we will have to make decision anyway and there will be more problem... worse problem waiting for us.” Serik said and looked to the tree line.

Valkyrie could be seen resting there. Her emotion had began to be stable again, but Serik begun to think there is something more within this stork drake...

Featuring: Lioness075
#EB6B56

 

[Lioness075]

Location: Proving Camp
Time: After the Assassin Deathborn Attack
Characters: Serik and Leandra

Leandra was quiet, as she listened intently to what Serik say. She shared many of his doubts and concerns. She could feel the already overwhelming weight on her shoulders bearing down on her even more now. She rested her chin on her forearms once more, as Serik spoke. She saw something bright in Serik's hands and glanced over to see a letter in his hands. The sun had brightened it in a brief moment and Leandra wondered who Serik was writing to. It seemed like everyone had some semblance of family back home to reach out to. If Leandra was being honest with herself, she almost feared the letter that would come back to her from home. Her memory flashbacks had not been comforting.

As Serik spoke of hope, Leandra felt herself agreeing with him. She wanted so desperately to believe Gerel as well and she could dimly hear the muffled sound of Caliban speaking inside the tent. She had no doubt he was attempting to motivate the group within. Leandra could only be so positive and motivated herself before reality slapped that aside. Just as Serik said, they were inevitably going to face more problems along their journey. It was not going to be an easy one for them and Leandra had no doubt they would all face more injuries along the way. Even with their unnatural healing, Leandra had seen the small scars mottling her arm. They may survive their injuries, but they would all bear the scars for years to come.

Leandra still felt uneasy with Serik being so close to her suddenly, so she stayed curled up as she was. But she lifted her head up and glanced sideways at Serik in time to see him staring in a different direction. She followed his gaze to a nearby tree line and she felt her curiosity pique as to why he was looking here. She soon caught sight of Valkyrie resting there and understood.

She returned her focus to Serik and Leandra said quietly, "It's okay to feel doubt and concern about what we're going through. There's nothing wrong with embracing those feelings and dealing with them. Ignoring them will only make it worse for you in the long run."
Even as Leandra said this, she could feel the hypocrisy in her own words. She was actively shoving her own tumultuous feelings deep down inside her and trying desperately to avoid them. She knew they would all boil over one day, but she felt like she did not have the time to really deal with them. It seemed every time they closed their eyes, they awoke to another danger.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Leandra steeled herself once more and continued in a calm tone, "As I told Caliban before, we're all in this together now. We have to learn to lean on one another for support when things get too hard on any one of us alone. If you try to tackle every insurmountable problem alone, you'll just run yourself haggard."

Pausing, Leandra followed Serik's gaze once more and asked, "Did something happen to Valkyrie during the fight?"

Leandra had not been paying much attention to any potential strife between the pair and she had Bonded so smoothly with Falarion that she assumed everyone was already best friends with their Skybeasts. She tried to recall what had happened to Serik at the big fight on the mountain, but she never really got a chance to see him at the time. It was the same thing during their fight last night. She was unsure of what might be troubling him about Valkyrie.

AncientBird
#EB6B56

 

[AncientBird]

Location: Proving camp
Time: After the assassin deathborn attack
Characters: Serik and Leandra

Leandra seemed to realize that Serik's concern had shifted to his skybeast as of current. Serik thought for a bit and decided that sharing it wouldn't hurt anything. "She got a minor injuries during the fight... But there was something else..." Serik said. "I had noticed it since last night, Valkyrie had something troubling her mind, not all the time but it would occur out of nowhere. I could feel pain, sorrow, bitterness... From her. You see, our bond was kind of unexpected... Back at my home plain, stork drakes are regarded as nothing but pests, vermin that seek to steal from us. Our family hate them for generations... And it was put inside my head as soon as I can ride and herd. When I tamed her, I accepted her as the gift of fate yet doubting her qualification as a skybeast companion. She prove me wrong though, as she seems to care for me and want to protect me at all course... You probably don't know but it was Valkyrie who crushed my leg at Mt. Arebos and took me away from the band when the giant deathborn emerged..."

Serik said, relieving memory that was just a day ago. "I scolded her for her action... I did apologize afterward, realizing that all she did was to protect me. I thought she may still be holding grudge and all... But last night she still came to my aid against those monsters. I didn't feel her anger, spite or disappointment directing at me... It's just sadness... Lamenting over something I don't know."

Serik glanced over to his skybeast once again. "She seems like she's suffering from it. I wish I could help her somehow, but she doesn't really wants to share."

Featuring: Lioness075
#EB6B56

 

[kase9187]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After assassination deathborn attack
Characters: Zeke, Aldaf

Aldaf laid a hand on Zeke's shoulder, seeing his hesitation and conflicted face.

"Are you okay, Zeke? Like, really okay?"
His voice was soft spoken and calm as he spoke. His face had a slight frown and his eyes held a tinge of worry for the Westerosian boy sitting in front of him.

SleepyCreamy
FF55FF

 

[SleepyCreamy]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After assassination Deathborn attack
Characters: Zeke, Aldaf

After a few minutes of just laying there on his back, he felt Aldaf's hand grazed his shoulders and Zeke looked over to him and was greeted by a question. To this, Zeke responded with a click of his tongue and then, "You know how much I hate talking about my feelings."

Zeke breathed in through his nose and said, "I'd stop worrying if I were you, Scar-face. Some people might take advantage of that. I get that you... care?" The word came out of his mouth as if it was a foreign word. "But you can put your concern to someone else more deserving of it." He said with a melancholy tone as he rests his head on his arms with his eyes on the ceiling.

kase9187
Text Colour: #FF55FF

 

[kase9187]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Zeke, Aldaf

Aldaf chuckled.
"Gryphon-head, name someone else here who deserves my care more than yourself. You've told me too much for me to stop caring."
He sighed and leaned backwards, laying parallel to Zeke.
"To be honest? I really do care, Zeke. Now stop belittling your self worth, it doesn't suit someone like you."

SleepyCreamy
FF55FF

 

[SleepyCreamy]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Zeke, Aldaf

Zeke scoffed as he felt movement beside him. "Yeah, but you still don't know some parts of my past that I refuse to share with just anyone." He said in a tired tone as his eyes were threatening to close.

"Someone like me? What do you mean?" Zeke raised an eyebrow and gave Aldaf a questioning look. He better not say anything cheesy or else I'm gonna be going back to sleep. Zeke thought as he waited for an answer.

kase9187
Text Colour: #FF55FF

 

[kase9187]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Aldaf, Zeke

Aldaf turned, his smirk on his face.
"From what I've seen of you, you don't take shit lying down. You hate seeing yourself as weak, and get angry at anyone talking down to you."
He laughed.
"If you wouldn't take it from me or from Cal or Kari or anyone, why would you take it from yourself? And from what I've seen of you, you're worth helping if you need it."
Aldaf sighed and turned to stare at the top of the tent.
"After all, I sort of know what you're going through. I went through some of it myself."

SleepyCreamy
FF55FF

 

[SleepyCreamy]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Zeke, Aldaf

Zeke turned away with a satisfied smile. His head turned away from Aldaf's view. He brushed his ebony hair away from his forehead and thought to himself. Even I haven't thought of it like that.
When Aldaf mentioned about going through the same thing as him, it sparked a curiosity within Zeke. The good type of curiosity. "Care to elaborate more on that?" He asked, trying out his luck. Whilst Aldaf know a few facts about Zeke, Zeke however, only knew one or two about him. He remembered this one instance where Aldaf gave Zeke permission to question him, but Zeke refused because he found Aldaf to be a person not worth knowing. But now... Zeke doesn't know what to think and feel towards him, but he does know that at that very moment, he wanted to know what his past was like. Zeke didn't want to be intrusive with Aldaf's past, as he himself would like to have the same courtesy as he gives the others. Forcing someone to give him information is just an unpleasant way to gain knowledge. If he wants something, he'd have to gain it through a mix of sheer hard-work and cunningness... That's just how Zeke truly is.

kase9187
Text Colour: #FF55FF

 

[kase9187]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Aldaf, Zeke

Aldaf sighed.
"Ever wonder where my dad is? Yeah. Me too."
His smirk vanished and was replaced with a slight frown.

"My dad died when I was younger... well, might've. We never found his body, and his funeral was... so hollow."
Aldaf started to remember his father, his warm smile and big, gentle hands helping him hold the bow he practiced with.
"Everyone stopped talking to my mother gradually in public. No one would openly speak with her directly unless she talked with them..."
The laughing faces returned as Aldaf shed a tear.
"... She was lucky. The kids never left me alone. Kept saying how shit I was, with a father like mine."
A shaky breath. In and out.
"That's why no one ever stuck around. No one wanted to be my friend, or else they'd be bullied into the dirt."
He turned over on his side and put his hand on Zeke's shoulder.
"I know how it feels to be an outcast, and I know how painful it is. I care because I know where you're coming from."
AAldaf's eyes were filled with a determined sorrow, a desire to help Zeke but filled with the pain of the past.

SleepyCreamy
FF55FF

 

[SleepyCreamy]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Zeke, Aldaf

Zeke pressed the back of his hand on his forehead in frustration as he saw a lone tear drip down his cheek. Zeke has always found bullies to be quite unpleasant to deal with, the way they take advantage of one's emotional state to make themselves feel better were a repulsive thought in Zeke's head. He wanted to pay these so-called 'bullies' a visit and just have a little talk, but he knows himself well enough that talking would be the last thing he'd ever want to do with these bullies. He didn't expect Aldaf to have such a harsh backstory. Aldaf wasn't kidding when he told Zeke that he knew what Zeke was going through. Both of them have lost their father at a young age and has suffered the wrath of society's disfigured ideals. When he mentioned about a hollow funeral, Zeke's heart cracked as he was reminded of a painful memory of him looking down at his father's gravestone with his emotionless mother. Just the two of them.

Zeke stayed silent as he meticulously listened to his voice that was laced nothing but pure sorrow. And he hated himself for bringing up such a terrible memory to remember, to be the cause of his current sadness. It was moments like these that he wanted to avoid the most. He hated the feeling of being vulnerable, and he hated it the most when he sees it affecting others, affecting someone he knows and is someone who he is now starting to recognize as a friend.

I'll be your friend then, Zeke's pride obviously held him back from saying those words. But if Zeke is known for something other than his fire dancing skills, that would be his unbroken promises. If he vowed to do something, then he'd have no problem with fulfilling it. Even if they were silent promises like this one, he'd make sure to stay true to his words.

"Yeah, you're being repetitive now." Zeke teased with a smirk as he tried to lighten the mood, but sometimes, his teasing could be taken as rudeness due to his straightforwardness. Zeke could only hope that he didn't take it wrongly, so, he quickly followed it up by, "What I mean is..." He paused for a second. "Thank you, for sharing your story with me."

"You'll find our similarities soon enough once we get to Westeros. Isn't that what you've always wanted? To go visit my mother with me?" Speaking about his mother brought a smile to his face. "She loves meeting new people. Hopefully, she's fine." Zeke yawned as sleep is slowly urging him to do so.

kase9187
Text Colour: #FF55FF

 

[kase9187]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Zeke, Aldaf

Aldaf laughed.
"I'd be delighted to meet your mother. But for now, you need sleep. I'll wake you up when we get ready to go."
His smile was warm as he laid Zeke down.
"So go the fuck to sleep."

SleepyCreamy
FF55FF

 

[SleepyCreamy]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Zeke, Aldaf

Zeke heard Aldaf laugh and he was relieved somehow. Zeke finally closed his eyes, but before sleep drifted him away from his realities, he spoke. "Yeah, yeah. Watch your language while you're at it." He waved his wrist around as he taunted him about his swearing. Zeke turned his back to Aldaf and laid sideways with his arms as a pillow, preparing for sleep.

kase9187
Text Colour: #FF55FF

 

[kase9187]

Location: Camp Tent
Time: After Deathborn Assassin attack
Characters: Aldaf, Zeke

Aldaf waited until he was sure Zeke was asleep before he bundled up two of the coats from the trek up the mountain and made one a bundle, sliding the makeshift pillow underneath Zeke's head and half covering Zeke with the other like a blanket.
"Gnight, Gryphon-head." Aldaf whispered before falling asleep himself.

END
SleepyCreamy
FF55FF