Elysian Fields: The streets run red [Q; FIN; EVAL] - Elysian Fields

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The streets run red [Q; FIN; EVAL] High Street, Espur Rate Topic: -----

#1 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 11 July 2010 - 06:06 PM


Tiles shifted dangerously beneath Maaike's feet as she chased ole' One Wing across the roof-tops. Every step she took, blue eyes cast about for an escape route, obstacles, potential hand/foot holds in case there was trouble. She noticed the canvas awnings covering the entryways of some of the shops on the High Street below, took note of drainpipes, rebalanced when her foot slipped.

Overhead, Magda's cry pierced the afternoon bustle as the white falcon kept pace with their bounty, wheeling over the scarred Zanaryan in an effort to fluster him. It worked - Ben's pace slowed as he flapped his arms at the screeching falcon, suffering a rake of talons for his trouble. Maaike, several houses behind them, kicked off a stack of boxes and flipped up and over a narrow alley, her heels scuffing as she regained her balance.

Magda was still hampering the Zanaryan, flurrying her wings to buffet him mercilessly. His arms were up shielding his face, so he didn't notice when his foot hit empty air, and suddenly he was tumbling off the roof. Maaike skidded to a stop at the overhang and peered down - “Damn!” He'd landed on one of the canvas awnings she'd been keeping her eye on, and was already scrambling to bounce out of it so he could take off running.

“Oh, no you don't!” Maaike cried, clucking her tongue to signal for Magda to keep following the Zanaryan. She daren't ask the falcon to continue harrying him, though, not with that many people on the street.

As Magda wheeled away to take up the chase, Maaike was already jumping off the roof onto the same canvas awning. Before she hit and could sink into its welcoming embrace, she scuffed a foot against the wall and another against one of the poles holding up the tenting so she could leap down unhampered.


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#2 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 11 July 2010 - 10:09 PM





Below the canvas awnings, Aiden walked amongst the crowd at a leisurely pace. With his hands tucked in his pockets, he looked to and fro from shop windows to vendor booths, and as his eyes skimmed over a box of salt-water taffy, he brightened with delight. He loved that stuff! He could get a bag of that and eat it later tonight for when he watched The Heart of Me with Estelle and Aki.

It was a Dorchester & Theopotos opera! Or that was what Estelle had said over the COM. She'd almost seemed offended when he didn't know what that meant. Apparently, being created by Dorchester & Theopotos meant that the opera would be great. He'd have to find that out for himself. But to be honest, he had no patience to watch operas when the stories they told were only just as interesting as real life. Still, he was going because he hadn't seen either of his kid sisters for two months and they had an extra ticket for the show.

A piercing cry cut through the air and wrenched Aiden's attention from the candy stand. Without skipping a beat, a one-winged Zanaryan bounced off an awning in the distance and started to run in Aiden's direction. “"Gah!"” That was One-Winged Ben! Aiden passed the demon's wanted poster every day at the Guard HQ!

Eyes trained on the Zanaryan, Aiden weaved through the crowd to cross the street and intercept the fugitive. As he jostled past a merchant and narrowly avoided a horse-drawn carriage, Ben drew close and they made eye contact. The demon swore colorfully and swerved away. Realized his error as he burst into a sprint, Aiden called out his own string of expletives. “#@$*&% stop right there!”

He shoved past a civilian and grabbed the edge of Ben's wing, and the demon immediately turned with a snarl. Aiden narrowly avoided a blow as they grappled and the demon shoved an open palm toward his face. Grabbing the outstretched hand, Aiden twisted it like he learned in training, and as he tried to twist the rest of the demon's arm, he heard running footsteps from behind him. In that moment of distraction, a wall of air crashed into him and sent him flying toward the woman. Taroch crap...





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#3 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 13 July 2010 - 06:43 PM

((Please tell me if this font's hard to read. It's kind of experimental...))

Maaike kept close to the wall, not wanting to even try to chase the Zanaryan through the crowd. She trusted Magda to keep her bounty in sight, and instead kept her eyes on the white falcon as she kept pace a few feet over Ben's head. Meanwhile, Maaike used every obstacle in her path as a tool, kicking off and leaping over boxes and walls and other surfaces to gain on her target.

She was surprised when Magda started circling. Ben must have stopped, giving her time to catch up and leave the wall to seek him out in the crowd, but wh-

“Oof!”

Maaike didn't have time to steer herself into a roll. She suddenly found herself clutching at the arms of a baby-faced giant as he crashed into her. She couldn't stop their fall, either, because he was too damned big, and as she struggled to get out from under him she could only watch as Ben scrambled to his feet and took off once more. “Damn it! Magda!”

The falcon wheeled down and sailed over Maaike's head as she clicked her tongue again, reissuing the command to stay on Ben's tail. “Get off me, damn it!”


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#4 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 14 July 2010 - 07:45 AM





“Gah!” He thought he'd hit a building, but what he landed on was actually kinda squishy, and it was moving and yelling at him. After a moment where he was disoriented and wondered what was scrabbling at his back, Aiden rolled to his feet, and without sparing a glance to see what he'd landed on, he started to run again. “Sorry! I'd stay longer to apologize, but I really need to catch that demon!”

Sure, he felt bad about landing on her, but Ben was getting away! And Ben could knock people into the air! Hmm, now why the hell had nobody written about Ben's abilities in the wanted paper? Dammitall! Aiden was too close to Ben to let the fugitive slip away, dammit!

The demon was silly for keeping a pet falcon though. That thing had swerved past Aiden to follow its owner, and it was still flying above and close to the Zanaryan. Aiden was lucky that he was tall, for he could still see the orange horns and lone black wing bobbing in the crowd, and that confirmed that he was following the right falcon that was shadowing its owner. How could Ben have stayed at-large for so long with a pet like that?

With a grimace, Aiden burst into another sprint after the fugitive. He skidded between two moving carts and stayed close to the edge of the buildings to avoid traffic. The demon was wanted only for questioning about a murder case and therefore might not be guilty about anything (yet), but the way that the Zanaryan was running away said a lot otherwise...





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#5 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 14 July 2010 - 01:19 PM


He needed to catch the demon? No. No! “He's mine!” Her call went unheeded, of course, because the tall man who'd crashed into her was already on his feet and racing off, leaving her to scramble after him like a still-green moron.

“Nrrrrr.” Her growl of frustration welled up from her chest and her fingers lengthened and sharpened into talons as she took off after them again. She hadn't wanted to morph initially because taking Ben down in bird form would be tough, especially now she knew his bond with wind was strong enough to knock a big man off his feet, but it had to be easier than trying to squeeze through this crowd. She couldn't afford to lose more time by crashing into someone else.

As her transformation completed, Maaike left the street, amid cries and gasps of surprise, as an orange-breasted falcon with raven-blue back feathers, and pin-wheeled to catch up. Her cry was echoed by Magda's answering call as the mistral dropped down to buffet Ben with his own medicine, attempting to sideline him into an alley so their actions would be less likely to have collateral damage.

Maaike followed, flying over the baby-faced man's head. She almost shrieked an attempt to warn him off, but then a thought occurred to her. Ben was pretty big, but this guy was bigger. He could come in handy as a pack mule for when she had to drag an unconscious Zanaryan back to the nearest Guard office.

Maaike turned her attention back to Magda, the woman inside the bird smiling her satisfaction when she saw that the mistral's wind attack had done the trick. It seemed like he could have easily knocked the falcon out of the sky with a counter-attack, but instead he'd ducked down an alley just as she'd wanted.

With another shriek, Maaike shot into the same alley behind Magda and came in low, already morphing back into her Therian form to land on two human feet.

“Give it up, Ben! I'm here to take you in.”


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#6 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 15 July 2010 - 05:47 AM





Running steadily, Aiden thought he was gaining on the Zanaryan when he heard a wild cry cut through the air. The Zanaryan's falcon answered that cry with a shriek of its own before swooping to attack the Zanaryan. A sudden rush of wind hit him from behind, and as Aiden barely ducked from another falcon's talons, he realized that the falcons weren't Ben's at all. The orange-breasted bird glided close as the other falcon bullied Ben into an alleyway. Aiden was only a few steps behind by then. As he skidded around the corner, he saw the falcon change into a woman who promptly voiced her intentions of capturing Ben.

Well, Aiden would help any way he could so long as Ben ended up alive and in the Guard HQ for questioning. Standing in the entrance of the alleyway, Aiden all but blocked the entrance as he rubbed his knuckles. “Hey Ben,” he said casually (or as casually as he could after running down three blocks of street), “you're wanted for questioning on the murder of Ivanovan Picoltte. Oh, and resisting arrest. Thanks for the throw back there, y'know?”

The Zanaryan spat onto the ground in response, and in a flash, the Zanaryan grabbed a bottle lying on the ground and smashed it into the wall. Shards of glass scattered onto the floor as the bottom of the bottle broke into jagged shapes. “What's it to ye? Leave me alone or you'll get hurt!” The demon smell turned pungent as Ben shot both Aiden and Maaike the stinkiest of stink-eyes.

Aiden frowned and readied his stance as he walked next to the woman. Briefly, he nodded at the woman to acknowledge her. She had the vibe of a bounty hunter, and he wanted her to know that he wasn't gonna snipe her bounty. He unfortunately didn't have his tonfas, so he'd have to use his fists if this came to a fight. For now, if Ben attacked, he'd aim to dodge and judo-throw the guy.





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#7 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 16 July 2010 - 12:59 PM


Maaike cursed having a sense of smell as the Zanaryan's stench reached her nostrils. His actions gave her pause, too. Either he was the dumbest Zan in history or he was up to something. He'd let himself be steered into this alley far too easily considering that his wind must be stronger than Magda's, and he could easily toss Maaike and her uninvited guest on their butts - again - without breaking a sweat. To be safe, she whistled for Magda to roost rather than risk the falcon being wind-tossed against a wall.

The way Baby Face talked, Maaike figured him for a Guardsman. She didn't get the sense he was trying to steal her pay, either, and she was smart enough to know when to play nice. When he nodded, she held his gaze for a moment, acknowledging his help, then sidestepped in an effort to come at Ben from the side. Baby Face's block wasn't a guarantee that Ben couldn't escape that way, but it was a dead end in the opposite direction and Zanaryans couldn't take off without help. That still left his bottle but frankly Maaike was more worried about what he wasn't doing with his air manipulation.

One-Wing backed up as she approached, and Maaike had the sense that him brandishing that bottle was more bravado than real courage. If anything, he seemed to want to be captured, but Maaike was torn. It wouldn't be the first time she'd been lured into a trap this way.

Unsure if Baby Face would understand the signal, Maaike glanced over a tan shoulder at him, then flicked her gaze to Ben's right, indicating that he should help her push the Zanaryan back against the dead end. A brief thought crossed her mind - What if Baby Face couldn't fight? - but it wasn't her responsibility. If he got himself hurt chasing after someone wanted by the law, it was his own business and she'd feel no guilt for his mistakes.

At least, that's what she told herself.

“Give it up, Ben,” she repeated, her voice soft as she switched from vinegar to sugar in an attempt to lure him in. As she spoke, she sidestepped again, ever closer, her gloved hands out at her sides to show him she had no weapons. All the while, she used her peripheral vision to track objects in the alley that she could use for leverage, noting the pile of boxes, the narrow windowsills at shoulder-height, the empty clothes line strung twenty feet above their heads, even the ginger tom sat watching them from the ten-foot stone wall at the end of the alley. “I'm sure you didn't kill anyone, why start now?”

Actually, she was sure he had, but sometimes they fell for the line. This guy, instead, lunged at Baby Face - apparently seeing him as either the most dangerous or the easiest target - with his broken bottle, and held his other hand out towards Maaike. She'd seen enough elementalists in action to know what that meant, and as a sphere of air blasted out from the guy's hand she sprinted to the left, hopped onto that pile of boxes, ran up the wall and leaped off and over the attack. The boxes blasted into smithereens as the force of the wind attack smashed into the wall. Maaike didn't waste time landing neatly, spinning like a top in midair to kick at his face on the way down, hoping like hell that Baby Face knew how to dodge.


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#8 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 17 July 2010 - 05:36 PM





Warily, Aiden glanced at the other shifter as she side-stepped toward Ben, and he edged closer as well. Experience told him that when criminals are cornered and desperate, they do crazy things. Now, blindly waving a broken bottle was crazy, but it wouldn't be as crazy if, say, he did something more effective with his element. Aiden has seen people cut down by air. The results weren't pretty.

Ben wasn't doing anything with his make-shift weapon other than waving it around, and there was no way out of this alley but past Aiden. What if Ben was waiting for back-up? Neither party was giving up, and none of the brunette's reassurances were getting through to Ben. To hell with this. Almost simultaneously, the two lunged toward each other---Aiden to disarm Ben and Ben to cut Aiden with aforementioned object. Aiden raised an arm to block the weapon attack as the other struck twice at Ben's collarbone, stunning him. He leapt away as the woman came out of nowhere, and the unfortunate Ben didn't see what was coming before it knocked him out cold.

Just in case, Aiden kicked the bottle away from the Zanaryan and placed two fingers under the crumpled figure's jaw. He'd been afraid that the kick would break Ben's neck or something, but he felt the demon's pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. A good fight was a short one. “"He's alive. Hey, where'dya learn to jump walls like that?"” Few people could pull off that kind of movement, not even in the guard. He grinned at the woman and faltered. She looked so stern. “"Eh, I'm not trying to steal your bounty or anything...but you're taking him to the Guard, right? I can help you with that."”




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#9 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 19 July 2010 - 05:08 PM



Well.

That was anticlimactic.

Maaike stood over One-Winged Ben's prone form with her fingers curled almost into fists and tensed just behind her hips, her whole weight settled ready for combat and frozen there because the Zanaryan going down right away had been rather unexpected.

Maaike's sapphire gaze twitched up to the tall baby-faced man next to her, but she hesitated before responding. Her skills were hard won, her confidence in them even harder won, and that made it difficult to talk about them. Still, he was being friendly, and Maaike knew better than to burn bridges. Stay clear of them where necessary, maybe, but not burn them.

“Maaike,” she introduced abruptly, thrusting out her gloved hand, her fingers peeking out from the first knuckle up, to clasp his arm in a warrior's salute. She used the Elysian pronunciation, my-cah, since that seemed to be his language, even if his accent was a little odd. It reminded her of the way the Dardanians spoke when she'd visited their country in search of the elusive archon to study its form, desperate to prove that she could do something like that on her own merit after she'd failed her son so badly. She'd had cause to wish she'd chosen another form since then, realising that the archon had very little use in the bounty hunting trade, but whenever she took it she took it with pride, knowing she'd set out to do something and succeeded.

She stepped back a little, putting enough distance between them for her comfort without making it look like his closeness was a problem. Glancing at the wall as she remembered his question, Maaike shrugged. She didn't even do it consciously any more. “Let's just say I have good friends.” It wasn't even remotely the truth, of course. She spent a fortune looking for a tutor who could teach her something that appealed to her on more than just a combat level. In the end, she'd found one almost by accident when she'd been looking for a Dracovari bounty who'd brought the free-running and capoeira arts with him from Earth, and since his crimes were petty thefts offered him his freedom, room and board in exchange for tutelage. The second he declared her good enough to rival him, he'd gone back to the street and his thieving, but Maaike hadn't seen him since.

“You can carry him,” she informed him with finality, as if she were doing him a great favour by allowing him to help, and waved her hands up and down from the wrist as a gesture for him to get on with it. Not to be completely rude, she eyed him curiously. “Is it your day off?” She didn't recognise him as one of the Guardsmen she'd been watching, so if he was a lawman around the city he must be a junior. Anyone else might assume since he wasn't wearing his uniform that he was another bounty hunter like her, but there was something about him, an air of law that bounty hunters just couldn't emulate.


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#10 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 22 July 2010 - 06:16 AM





Aiden wasn't sure how to react when the woman approached him and Ben. Even with the demon unconscious, she seemed so uptight with her fists clenched and expression in combative mode. So when she introduced herself and reached out at him, Aiden paused before he stood and extended his own hand. “"Aiden Roy."” Then he mimicked her when she wrapped her fingers around his arm. It was an uncommon handshake, but he'd seen it a few times during gatherings with the senior guard.

“You can carry him.” And then a dismissive arm wave.

Whaaaaaat? Okay so there was no way this woman could carry something like Ben---so Aiden would have to---but he bristled from the way she said it. Not 'can you carry Ben, please?' but 'carry him'. It was as if he owed her the favor.

But whatever. He didn't like taking orders from strangers, but he shrugged and stooped beside the Zanaryan anyway. Ben was the focus and they had to get him to the Guard ASAP. “"Yeah, it's my day off."” He raised an eyebrow at Maaike. “But how did you know I was a Guardsman?” Assuming that's what she thought he was.

“"But I'm from New Alexandria, so where's the closest guardhouse around here? Hopefully not too far?"” He smiled briefly. Depending on the answer, they might catch a ride off of a cart. 'Cause even though he could carry Ben for a couple of blocks, he wasn't gonna carry Ben across half the city.

The Zanaryan might wake up at any moment and Aiden did not want a criminal at his back unawares. Aiden glanced around for a rope to tie Ben with and saw only a pile of boxes. There was a clothesline above their heads, but it was too high up for him to reach. Not too high for a falcon though. Still eyeing that clothesline, he asked, “"And, er, do you have something to tie him up?"” She should have one since she was bounty-hunting Ben.

((OOC: You can have Ben wake up at any time. I don't think he'd stay out for long. ^__^))




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#11 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 22 July 2010 - 01:13 PM


Maaike lifted her right shoulder in another shrug when he asked her how she'd known his occupation. It wasn't that hard, really. There were four types of folks in Elysia: Those who enforced the law, those who broke the law, those who captured and/or killed those who broke the law, and then everyone else. The "everyone else" usually didn't recognise criminals from wanted posters, let alone thought to go after them, and people like Maaike who cleaned up the dirt even part-time tended to have a sort of wildness about them that law men didn't. “I can just tell.”

And then he answered a question for her about why she didn't recognise him. Not having much experience with the shire's law, she could only eye him warily in an attempt to assess how dangerous he was. She hadn't seen him fight - that little tussle with Ben couldn't really be counted - but he was taller and thus heavier than her, and who knew what else he could do? Hmm, but he smelled wild, like her, of fur and earth and green. She'd stake her life on him being Therian like her, and that wasn't a bet she made lightly.

Pointing vaguely towards the alley exit when he asked where the nearest Guard office was, because she'd be damned if she'd let him stalk off with her target, thank you very much, Maaike reached into the big pocket on her left leg for the hemp rope she always carried when working. There wasn't much else she did carry, though, partly because things had to be organic (which didn't include her COM) and partly because if ever anything happened to her, she didn't want it being traced back to Graeme or Sammy. She also refused to give her assailants a free meal, so no wallet or jewellery either (barring the beaded collar at her neck since that wasn't very expensive).

“Hold him up,” she told the other Therian, then set about lacing the rope around the Zanaryan's wrists. He was starting to come around and was groaning, so she sped up but didn't want to go too fast that the knots were shoddy.

Since Ben here could use his wind to throw him air-bound, she probably ought to immobilise his wings too, but Espur's streets were pretty crowded and she was out of rope. Besides, if he could have escaped that way, he would have done it already.

As she stood back to dust off her hands, Ben was starting to struggle. Rather than have him trying to escape, Maaike drew back a fist and punched him square in the chin a couple of times until he slumped back against the wall. Then, using what strength she had, Maaike dragged the Zanaryan into as much of an upright position as she could manage so that Baby Face - Aiden - could wedge a shoulder under him. “Let's go, then, Aiden Roy.”

Inspecting her bruised knuckles as she headed for the exit, Maaike gave a shrill whistle that was answered a second later by Magda's cry as the mistral falcon swooped overhead.



((You can GM Maaike out of the alley if you want. ^^ She'll do her best to keep the crowd away from Aiden. The Guard office is probably just down the road since this is the High Street. ^^))
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#12 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 24 July 2010 - 04:58 PM





Aiden bit back a sigh when Maaike merely waved her arm near the alley exit to indicate where the guard house was. It really would have been nice if she weren't so vague. As he waited for Maaike to tie Ben's wrists together, he wondered if she was worried about him running off with Ben. But that didn't make any sense because Aiden couldn't run far while carrying Ben.

She couldn't be new at bounty hunting, judging from the way she worked. The knots she tied were bound to leave marks on the Zanaryan. They were proper knots too so it would take a helluva struggling to get out of it.

As Maaike finished on the ropes, Aiden felt the Zanaryan begin to stir. It would only be seconds before the Zanaryan realized what was happening. He tightened his grip on the Zanaryan's shoulders. Ben immediately rocked his head back in a weak attempt to hit Aiden, but Aiden pushed Ben forward--just as Maaike punched Ben in the face.

“Hey-wait!” Aiden yelped as he tried to pull Ben away from the crazy hunter. But she kept punching ruthlessly. By the time Aiden could get an arm between her and Ben's face, the Zanaryan's head had already lolled backward.

After a moment of shock where he just gaped at her, Aiden frowned disapprovingly. “You shouldn't have done that.” Aiden grimly pulled one of the Zanaryan's arm around his shoulder. Ben was a few inches shorter than him so Aiden had to stoop a little as he stood. “He was bound! He couldn't possibly fight back.” Seeing her go at the fugitive like that--it made Aiden feel sick. And he'd helped to hold Ben while she punched. That was no better than the coppers who'd picked on vampires in New Alexandria. Sure, there weren't any laws against Guardsmen punching criminals, but Aiden did that only when necessary. Like, when the criminal was trying to kill him.

“Who knows, we could have made him walk to the Guard instead,” he grumbled as he walked toward the alleyway exit. Though Ben was dead weight, Aiden still walked at a decent pace. He turned out of the alleyway and ignored the stares as he half-carried the unconscious Zanaryan after Maaike. This wasn't the first time he carried an unconscious person to the Guard, but it was the first time the person was out cold when they didn't have to be. Maaike walked briskly, and between her and her falcon, she formed a gap in the crowd that was wide enough for Aiden to get through easily.




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#13 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 25 July 2010 - 04:11 PM

((I'm so sorry! When Maaike knocked Ben out, I thought we'd met the quest requirements, but I just realise we have 8 more posts to go. I made us miss a good opportunity. :())


Maaike could hear well enough to wrinkle her nose at her fellow Therian when he started grumbling to himself about Ben's dead weight, even though she was a couple of steps ahead of him. She was annoyed by his naivete, considering he was a Guard. He should know better.

“Do you want him to throw you again? Zan don't need free hands to be dangerous.” The "moron" at the end of the sentence went unspoken but as far as she was concerned, it was a given. If he was a law man, he should know what he was dealing with. Or maybe he was too used to having back-up to fix his mistakes, a luxury Maaike didn't have - or want. She couldn't rely on Magda or Cailean's help all the time, because there were situations where using them would put both them and herself in danger, and she worked alone because she didn't really trust anyone else at her back. That unfortunately also meant she either fixed her own mistakes or paid heavily for them.

Come to think on it, having this guy behind her was making her nervous, and it probably showed in the tension of her spine and stiff movements as she walked.

Pulling a three-sixty as she walked, mostly to check Ben was still out but also to make sure the Therian was still trailing her, Maaike loosed a soft ooph when she knocked into someone. Her surprise took second place to suspicion as the hooded figure weaved deliberately around a tall man who was passing Aiden, just to come at the Therian from his eight o'clock. “Hey, watch it!”

Maaike was already moving, grabbing the thief's wrist just before he could dip his hand into Aiden's pockets. As Maaike twisted the slender arm up the thief's back, she caught a glimpse of Ben's bloodied face where it dangled at Aiden's back, and swore her frustration when he winked at her. She'd barely got her mouth open to warn Aiden again when the Zanaryan launched himself upright against Baby Face's shoulder, swinging a knee towards the Therian's groin.

Maaike swore again when she knocked off her feet by a gust of wind that smashed her into a nearby stack of wooden crates, too stunned by the impact to move or swear again.



((I figure Ben will try to run off again, if his kick lands. XD Sorry, Aiden!))
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#14 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 28 July 2010 - 06:43 AM





Admittedly, Aiden would have struck at Ben too. It would have been a rookie's mistake if they hadn't done something about Ben's element and later suffered for it. But he just felt wrong about letting Maaike strike Ben repeatedly in the face as he held Ben down.

Feeling chastised, Aiden wasn't stubborn enough to talk back when he knew he was wrong, but he was stubborn enough to walk in silence. It was an uncomfortable silence though, because he was carrying a slightly heavy Zanaryan and people were staring at him. To make it worse, the Zanaryan stank like durian, and Aiden worried if he would smell like that too since he was carrying Ben.

His hold on Ben was slipping, so he tilted slightly to the side so that he wouldn't drop the Zanaryan. With Ben draped over his shoulder, Aiden wouldn't be able to see if the Zanaryan was awakening, but he thought he'd notice if the dead weight on his shoulder woke up. Aiden thought twice about it though. If Ben woke up, Maaike would stop the Zanaryan from escaping. But what's to stop the Zanaryan from putting a few attacks on Aiden before that happened? Warily, he looked toward the bounty hunter. Did she plan for him to carry Ben, knowing that Aiden would take the hit if Ben tried to escape again? He knew she could be ruthless, so he couldn't trust her.

A hooded figure bumped into Maaike, and as she whirled around, the person didn't even hesitate to apologize. The stranger seemed too intent on coming toward Aiden. Eyes narrowing with suspicion, Aiden stepped away from the shady stranger just as Maaike caught and twisted the thief's arm. But her eyes widened with shock, and suddenly there was pain.

See Maaike fly. See Ben smirk. See Ben run. Run, Ben, run.

Aiden collapsed to the ground and hunched forward. Gasping, for he couldn't even breathe to yell, he rolled on the ground and didn't care that he was tearing up because he hurt like a kelpie wolf. As his vision blurred, both Ben and the pocket thief disappeared from his view.

Jaws glenched, Aiden pat the floor urgently to will away the pain. “Son of a---” he wheezed. Ben couldn't run smoothly with his hands bound, but with Maaike and Aiden both out of commission, the bat had a fair chance of getting away. Knowing this, Aiden tried to ignore the pain as he crawled to his feet and stood on shaky knees. He squinted for signs of a single demon wing bobbing in the crowd. By now, Ben was already a speck in the masses. Maybe that speck wasn't even Ben.

With a sigh, he hobbled toward the broken crates, leaned his back against the wall, and waved a weak arm at Maaike. “Ben's getting away,” he spoke hoarsely, as if she didn't know already.





((Hah! I was wondering why you knocked him out so soon. But it's okay, I did that first too. :P
Sorry there's not much new content. I assumed Aiden couldn't do much after such a low blow. D=
I also assumed that Maaike's still stunned from breaking into the crates, so I didn't GM her except leave her there. Please tell me if you want me to change it.))

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#15 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 28 July 2010 - 02:26 PM


Maaike was too breathless to respond at first, or to signal for Magda to track the Zanaryan, and the falcon was too well-trained to go after him herself. Damn it.

When she did get her breath back, a string of curse words, of varying foulness and language picked up from various bounties in the past, chased each other out of her mouth to turn the air blue. She struggled to her feet with a whistle that sent Magda wheeling overhead to track the Zanaryan, and offered a hand to the Therian to help him up.

She wanted to chastise him for letting Ben escape, but it was as much her fault as his. She should have known better than to assume he was out for the count.

She didn't tell him "it's okay", though. Maaike wasn't the type to give false hope or to baby people, and it wasn't okay that Ben was on the loose again. Who knew what he'd done or would do? She did tell him, “Magda will track him.” The falcon had excellent vision and was trained not only to follow her target but also to circle so Maaike could track her.

“You can stay here.” Maaike's natural haughtiness turned the sympathetic offer into more of a command than she'd intended, but she'd only meant to let him off the hook. She may be female, but she knew an injury like that could be crippling.

In a rush to keep Magda in sight, Maaike jogged one by one up the stack of crates she'd been thrown against, and kicked off the wall to leap into the air, already transforming back into her own falcon so she could regain some ground out of the crowd.

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#16 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 29 July 2010 - 08:31 AM





When the bounty hunter didn't reply to his words, Aiden peered over the wreckage to get a second glance at Maaike. Then he saw movement, and upon seeing her angry expression, he swiftly leaned away from her and stared innocently into the crowd. Still seated, Aiden heard her swear with such intensity that she would have put a sailor to shame. Abruptly, Maaike whistled shrilly and Aiden nearly stood instinctively, but then he realized that she'd been whistling to her falcon.

Smiling weakly, Aiden accepted Maaike's hand and attempted to stand again. He opened his mouth and began to apologize because he should have been smarter. He had taken his attention off of Ben. In the first place, he shouldn't even have carried Ben over his shoulder where neither Maaike nor Aiden would notice if the Zanaryan awoke. But that was the past, and right now, he was determined to make Ben pay.

So when Maaike told him to stay, he immediately protested with a loud “Hell no!” and attempted to follow Maaike. But without another word, the hunter took off after her mistral falcon.
“Hind's teeth!” he swore. Did she just dismiss him? She for sure did, and he resented that!

Aiden cursed in quiet Sylvan and limped in the direction that Maaike went. Painful injury or no, he was determined to track Ben until the Zanaryan was safely behind bars, dammit! Anyway, he was already forgetting the pain. But like Ben, Maaike's form disappeared quickly into the city. Eyebrows furrowing in frustration, he quickened up his pace, and then he remembered that there was still a trail that he could follow.

Still running as his nose shortened and turned black, Aiden grabbed the upper sleeve of his shirt and pressed his nose into it. Inhaling the smell of durian and rotten eggs, Aiden fought back a gag as he leapt forward. He was a cat before he reached the ground, and he hit the ground running. Luckily, every Zan had their own distinct stench, and Ben's trail was clear as day. The cat followed eagerly and broke into a run.

Ben had been in a hurry to get away, so as Aiden followed the scent trail, he leapt over fallen sundries, skidded under an upturned cart, and wove between legs. He would have taken to the roofs to avoid the obstacles, but he wanted to stay as close to the trail as possible. The more he followed the scent, the more he realized that Ben smelled desperate and afraid. Most likely, Ben noticed that the falcons were still following. As Ben tried to shake loose from his stalkers, the Zanaryan ran into a cafe, barged through the kitchen, and dashed out the back door. Aiden knew all this through the scent trail. He also knew that he was once again gaining on Ben, that kumo slime.




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#17 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 30 July 2010 - 02:19 PM


Maaike was actually glad when her predator's eyes caught glimpses of Baby Face following, that she wasn't dealing with Ben alone. She was also more inclined to trust him now that she'd seen his other side, because even though cats and birds were natural enemies in the wild, he brought something new to the table that Maaike, with her bird and wolf forms, couldn't.

It was a shame he couldn't take to the wing to keep up, but Maaike could slow Ben down if she wanted. And even though Aiden being a fellow Therian didn't mean he was trustworthy, Maaike knew it would be so much easier to collar Ben if she had help. Since it didn't look like Aiden was giving up any time soon, she might as well use him.

Her beak parted as she let loose a piercing shriek, spinning into a dive with her claws extended when she finally caught up to the Zanaryan. Hearing her cry, Ben glanced over his shoulder, then half-stopped so he could turn to fend her off and shield his face with his arms.

It was trickier to command Magda in this form, but another cry brought the mistral falcon down to buffet Ben with a blast of wind just as Maaike wheeled up out of harm's way.

All the while, Maaike kept an eye out for an opportunity to knock the guy out for real this time, but right now there were just too many people - all of whom were shrieking and yelling, ducking as if she was gunning for them, and staring at the two birds of prey like Ben was the victim here!

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#18 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 04 August 2010 - 07:51 AM





Following the scent trail brought Aiden halfway down an unknown street filled with people and a battling trio. The Maaike-falcon was in the midst of a dive at the Zanaryan, and her pet falcon was close behind with its wings flapping and at the ready for another air-based attack. Off sides, people were beginning to circle Ben and the falcons, almost as if they had half a mind to help the Zanaryan.

What those civilians didn't know might kill 'em. One mis-aimed blast from the Zanaryan, and he would no longer be just a murder suspect. Ben had easily thrown Aiden into the air as a human--to be thrown in cat form might prove fatal. Maaike was in the same danger as well, and he hoped for her safety that she'd shift soon. Hissing, Aiden skidded to a halt near the crowd and gained height as he regained his human form. As he became taller, he lifted his arms to face-level to shoulder for some room in the crowd.

The Maaike-falcon screeched as she came up from her dive. Her falcon opened its wings in response, and Aiden recognized the opportunity for a surprise attack. There were so many things wrong with that picture--two falcons attacking a Zanaryan, and now Aiden appearing out of nowhere to punch the guy? He'd yell something about the law and Ben being a wanted criminal, but that would ruin his surprise attack. He could only attack first and talk later, and he hoped that nobody would take this wrong and try to help Ben.

The gust attack hit Ben squarely in the face, and as Ben shielded his face and blindly tried to force his way into the crowd, Aiden lunged to grab the unsuspecting criminal. Steel fingers closed around the Zanaryan's shoulder and Aiden made a fist as he attempted to punch Ben in the gut. Aiden had given Maaike crap about her ruthlessness, but this time, he'd be the one to punch Ben until the Zanaryan fell.




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#19 User is offline   Maaike Icon

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Posted 12 August 2010 - 05:50 PM


Maaike was more than a little stunned that she and Baby Face were working in tandem like this. She'd always thought it would take years for people to develop a working relationship where they each knew what the other would do, and that she herself would never have one. She couldn't trust well enough, and yet Aiden Roy was fast on his feet, picking up cues and opportunities like they'd done this before. His own experience had more to do with it than any professional chemistry between them, but Maaike had to admit it made her wish, just for a moment, that her only partners weren't animals.

Pity Espur's citizens were dumb enough to lower her estimation of humanoids right back down into the mud as, with a violent swing of some kind of wooden pole, one of them knocked her flying into the side of a nearby cart. In the process of transforming, the blow wasn't as damaging as it would have been for a full falcon, but it still took her a second to shake it off, coming to her senses to find herself down on one knee with the fingers of both hands steepled on the cobbles, her hair in wild disarray and the same man stalking towards her.

“How dare you gang up on someone like that. I knew there were racists around here, but this is horrifying!”

Maaike would have been more annoyed, enough to have a go at putting this guy out of her misery for good if he'd let One-Wing escape, but she could see beyond him to where the taller Therian was keeping her target busy and that mitigated some of her frustration. “Moron! He's my bounty!” Ordinarily, Maaike wouldn't have bothered explaining even that much, but he had quite a crowd backing him by now and she'd be damned if Ben got away because he'd suckered these idiots into helping him.

“... Eh?”

To back her play, she might have told them Aiden was a uniform, but he wasn't wearing one and was out of his own jurisdiction so all that would do was confound matters. Instead, shot to her feet with a feral growl, a remnant of being raised in the wild, and bared her teeth as Ben collapsed under the weight of Aiden's punches. Then, elbowing the dumbfounded idiots aside, she came to stand over Ben's prone form with her arms crossed over her chest and her glare settled on Aiden's face. “And you think I'm too rough?”

He'd done a good job, but that wasn't something Maaike could admit, and certainly not with an audience. “Fine. You can carry him again.” And this time, she'd keep a much better eye on the Zanaryan so they didn't have to go through this whole thing all over again.

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#20 User is offline   Aiden Icon

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Posted 14 August 2010 - 08:38 AM




His mind still buzzed with the cat's instinct, and it told him to disable the threat. It wanted to tear Ben apart for escaping (thrice!), for blasting Aiden into the air, and for the almost-crippling low blow. So while a tiny part of Aiden's mind protested as it saw Ben stumble under the punches, the cat relished the agression, and it didn't want to stop until Ben was safely unconscious. It didn't even wonder about the startled citizens of Espur.

“Oi watchit!” A beefy hand grabbed Aiden's arm as he drew it back for another punch. Eyes widening, Aiden whirled to face the grimacing civilian as another person pushed him away from Ben. Aiden frowned and brushed the hand aside. “He's a wanted criminal!”

The beefy guy looked like he was about to argue with Aiden, but then a slender figure shouldered its way between the two of them. Seeing Ben's unconscious form, it frowned disapprovingly. “And you think I'm too rough?”

“Well---” He wanted to protest, he really did. There was a difference between her punching Ben in the face and him punching the guy in the stomach. But under Maaike's glare, Aiden reconsidered. There was no point arguing, and especially not in front of an audience. So all he managed was a mutter of “yeah.”

Guiltily, he tilted his head and rubbed the back of his neck. He looked down at Ben, and then nodded politely at beefy guys one and two. “Hey, sorry for the confusion. But I swear there's a bounty on this guy, and I just want to bring him to the Guard.”

He stooped beside the Zanaryan, and arms helped lift Ben to a sitting position. Soon, the bounty was over Aiden's shoulder again. Nodding politely at the people of Espur (most of which were returning to their daily lives), he mumbled “have a good day,” and quietly followed Maaike.

...Dammit. He still didn't know where Guard HQ was...




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