Fantasy [Closed] A nation in havoc

[Rhaine]

Cassander had splashed some water over his face, bringing the cool droplets of water over the nape of his neck. He ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, watching Nia as she stood and turned from the room. He followed her, reasoning that they should stay together.

Through the armory, Cassander's dark gaze lit up slightly at the sight of the gilded bows and arrows. He paused, his long, callused fingers tracing the patterns on a certain bow that caught his eye. Archery was a treasured practice of his people. For the first time since the initial blow of disaster, Cassander's thoughts turned to his homeland. His feelings on the matter were distant and confused, but he prayed for the good health of his people, of his family all the same. It was an earnest prayer.

Nia's voice cut through his consternation. He looked up to find her sitting on the floor, facing the far wall. He took a few steps, standing at her side. "Is there a door?" From her words, he gathered that there was, though he could barely make out its features among the stone. "What are you trying to reach?" He voiced his thought, his eyes falling from the wall to Nia below.

Duke of Doge

 

[Duke of Doge]

"Us Davions have a tradition of having custom weapons made for us, designed by our parents. My parents had mine made, but I have yet to come of age to get it. Inside this vault is all of those weapons. Mine, my fathers, his fathers, and so on. Considering what went down. I want to get mine." Nia stood. "Its the only thing that I have left." She started to tear up again "Da' never told me how to open it." She pressed against the door, feeling all along it with her hands. "Damn it all!" she grabbed a nearby sword and swung it against the door. Gliding off the door with a spark and a bad reverberating vibration going through Nia's body.

The door didn't even have a scratch.

She dropped the sword and put her back against the wall and slid down, sitting again on the floor. "It's all I can think of that would link me home, to my parents... my bloodline. It's dumb I know. But this is important to me." She said as she struggled to hold back another wave of tears, her head in her hands.
Rhaine

 

[Rhaine]

Cassander listened, eyes widening slightly at her explanation. He looked back at the door with renewed interest. He watched her aggressive attempt to open it, and fought the urge to bring a blow of his own against the stone. He figured it would take something with more finess than a powerful strike to open the door. He looked back down to Nia, finding that the frustration was getting to her, opening her emotional wounds all over again. He shook his head faintly, crouching on his haunches to be level with her.

"It's not dumb. It is important, and though it may seem daunting, I wouldn't worry. You're the heir. You have the power to open the door whether or not your father taught you how." He looked back up at the door, searching for the notch of a keyhole, revealing markings, something. "We know one thing. It is meant to open, but it's only meant to open to those of your blood line specifically. Perhaps you already have the answer and you just don't know it." His voice had a determined shine, a cautiously optimistic tone. There was a boyishly good-natured spark in his eyes.

He would aid her whatever her pursuit. She was all he had left in Dalania to speak of, and he understood how essential it was to have something keeping one connected to their home, to their family, and by extension, to their purpose. His fingers briefly twisted the gold ring on his right index finger.

Cassander was almost grateful of the mystery. There wasn't much else to focus on within the cavern.

Duke of Doge

 

[Duke of Doge]

"I'll figure it out" she said looking blankly across the room. She brushed her bangs to the side with a sigh. "What do we do now?" She asked. Trying to wrap her head around everything, she couldn't think straight. Not at all.

Nia was stuck in a cave, with people she hardly knows. No food either. While the country outside was being destroyed.
All she could do now, was wait.
Rhaine

 

[Rhaine]

Nia's blank expression almost distressed Cassander more than one that betrayed hurt. Still, his limbs stayed loose and casual, not giving life to something that might not be troubling in reality.

"I have a feeling we'll be down here for a while." It was a soft statement that carried an almost indetectable grim note. He cast his eyes to the stone ceiling, tracing the pattern for a moment. He wondered how much time had passed already - how much longer until night fell. He loathed the idea of sleeping, as he always dreamt.

His gaze found her again, watching as she brushed her ruddy locks of hair out of her eyes. "Besides water, what resources do we have down here? You know these caverns better than I ever did. You were always better at paying attention to instructions." It was a light statement that came with a small smile - something like playfulness, yet perhaps not reaching it.

Duke of Doge

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia thought for a second "there is bound to be some food, maybe medicine, I get the next rooms mixed up." She said standing up "we should tell the others what we are doing... and we should make a map" a low rumble shook the cave again. Nia looked at the ceiling and sighed heavily. Stomping her foot on the ground "Haven't you done enough!?" Nia yelled at the quake itself, and then it actually stopped.
Rhaine

 

[Caffeine Freak]

Samuel raised his head. The rumbling had ceased.

"It's over." He breathed, slowly getting up. With a slight limp, he hurried off down the cave network, following the distant echo of Nia's voice.

Rhaine Duke of Doge

 

[Rhaine]

Ru watched as Samuel stood, walking off down the far side. She took his silence and distance as answer enough, and her gaze only rested on his retreating form for a moment.

A stranger took a seat near her and Dan, and she eyed him cautiously, head tilting to the side at his statement. "What do you mean?" She inquired after his meaning, subconsciously coming closer to Dan in the wake of an unknown presence. The new man unsettled her slightly, though she wasn't sure exactly why. There was a shifty quality to the way his eyes moved.

She looked to Dan at her side, searching for any wound over his skin she could spy. He had surprised her, and it wasn't often that people did that. She buried away the thought for further inspection when there wasn't anything else to keep her occupied. She did her best thinking during the night. "Are you alright, Mr. Carbonaro? Were you hurt by the debris?" She had her equipment ready and available. She was itching to work, to help. It gave her purpose and soothed her mind.

Voices echoed and shifted through the air.

((Cassander in a bit... Caffeine Freak TheCountryWarrior SirGrey ))

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Dan sat down next to Ru, placing himself between her and the Thief. The cold glare had returned. "Don't trust a word he says. And keep an eye on him and your valuables, he's a well known thief. Infamous where I'm from." Dan's look remained cold and he didn't turn to meet her gaze, as he watched the Thief, just waiting for him to do something wrong and ready to kill. "I'm fine."

In truth, he was not fine. He had managed to avoid a spray of burning rock, save one pebble that had burned his right hand, the same hand he weilded his weapon with. It still hurt. "Save your medicine for those who need it." Rhaine SirGrey

 

[Rhaine]

Ru looked to the 'Thief', as Dan had described him, his words confirming the feeling she had received from the man. She kept her limbs close, slightly guarded, though for some reason she didn't feel particularly afraid. Her eden eyes found Dan once more, still inspecting his exposed skin despite his clipped response. She knew his coldness wasn't directed at her. Her trained gaze focused in on an inflamed space over his right palm.

She came closer with a slight shake of her head. "I'll save my medicine for whoever I please." It was a gentle reply, a hint of amusement taking form in her voice. She took his right hand in her grasp, careful not to graze the burn. "Knowing you...I would think your dominant hand would be more important to you. It is the one you hold your 'Abbondanzio firearm' with." She reached for her bottle of aloe with her free hand.

-

Cassander nodded in affirmation of Nia's plan. A map would be beyond helpful, especially if they ended up being down here for as long as he suspected. The world outside was a foreign, frightening thing. He couldn't even conceive what horror carried on just above them. He was startled slightly as Nia yelled at the rumble of the earth, and like a chastised child, it slunk away.

He gave a small huff that almost resembled a laugh. "Are you sure you haven't got any magic in you?" He was attempting to bring back the lighthearted air that he was used to wearing - where he was comfortable. He rose from his crouch, standing to his full height.

TheCountryWarrior SirGrey Duke of Doge

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Dan continued glaring at the Thief, but held his hand out to Ru so she could use her medicine. She had a point. It was her medicine and she could do what she wanted, but he still felt it was unnecessary. "If you wish, but I've dealt with worse."
SirGrey Rhaine

 

[Duke of Doge]

Nia shruged at Cassander's magic comment, leaving the armory as she then spotted Sam "oh hey, we are just exploring a bit. Tag along if your up for it" she just needed something to distract her from breaking down again. So she continued down the halls.
Rhaine Caffeine Freak

 

[Rhaine]

As Dan offered his hand to her without significant protest, Ru experienced a small surge of joy, though she didn't allow it to show in her face save for a bit of shine in her eyes. She guided his hand to rest in her lap, palm to the sky. "I don't doubt it." She had noticed the scars that stretched over his skin. She knew the burn over his palm seemed like nothing compared to the marks he had earned. As she opened the bottle of aloe, beginning to apply it to the burn, she faintly voiced her thoughts aloud. It was an idiosyncrasy that occurred when she worked.

"It might be nothing now... but burns can be infected so easily, and turn much more serious. Warriors need their hands... warriors and engineers all the same." Focusing on the process, her head bent, dark locks falling over her face. She brought forth a small roll of bandage, beginning to dress the burn so it wasn't exposed to the outside. "You are an engineer, aren't you? You spoke earlier of other designs you had to offer...I doubt the construction of your firearm was an easy undertaking." She still didn't understand how his firearm worked, how it could possess so much power and fit into ones' hand.

TheCountryWarrior SirGrey

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Dan kept up his glare at the Thief as he answered the Elf. "Yes I am. And no it was not. It took me the last 4 years just to get a working model, and it's not finished. It's not as good as it could be, though I don't know how I'd make it better yet. And I've had other ideas as well. Large machines capable of destroying city walls, better than catapults, and others. I was hoping to find some workshop in Dalania, but... well, no matter." Dan's face had slowly softened through the course of his outspoken thoughts, as if remembering things he hadn't told anyone. Rhaine SirGrey

 

[Rhaine]

Ru listened, giving a small nod once he had finished, carefully wrapping the bandage over his palm in the correct fashion. "I wouldn't give up on that hope. Dalania's time isn't finished. The world can be rebuilt. In times like these, engineers, builders, minds like yours are essential." Her tone was matter-of-fact, voice still soft as if she were almost subconsciously voicing her thoughts aloud.

With a name like his, Ru knew he must belong to a family of prominence. She wondered if they were engineers like him, forward thinkers. "Have you always known your path? Were your parents engineers?" Her questions held a sincerely inquisitive form.

She finished dressing the burn, securing it with deft movement. Ru gave a small smile, satisfied with her work. She raised her eyes up to him from where his hand rested in her lap. "It shouldn't trouble you anymore, though I would like to take another look at it tomorrow."

TheCountryWarrior

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Dan sighed. Why am I telling her anything? Because she's the only one you've met that doesn't want to talk to to you because of your father. "No, let's just say my father was a... "business man." My mother took care of her children, bless her soul. She was most supportive of what she believed was my calling in life, and my father was too busy to care." Dan looked at his hand, opening and closing it to test its strength. "Thank you." Dan looked at Ru, his gaze neutral. "And how about you? You're an Elf I noticed. Never met an Elf before. And your knowledge of herbs and medicines have certainly come in handy. You speak as a doctor, treating a patient in pain, keeping them occupied as you save their life. How long have you been doing this?"

Rhaine

 

[Rhaine]

Ru took in new details without fault, her expression shifting ever so slightly with each new understanding she achieved. She gave a small nod as he thanked her, her eyes falling to the floor when he met her gaze - in a way that suggested it was a habit, a frequent mannerism formed out of conditioned timidness. She beat back the urge to cover her ears with her hair when he commented on her race. He had turned the conversation her way, and she was surprised she didn't feel especially uncomfortable with the prospect of it.

Her gaze rose once more as he voiced his question, a small smile touching the corner of her mouth. "I've been trained to for as long as I can remember. You could say I had no choice but to take to it." With her last words, it felt as if she had attempted to voice the thought with humor, but the underlying truth of it won out. "I do love it though. I think healing is a very noble pursuit, though in honesty, sometimes I feel like I'm not cut out for it. The process does require one to attain a level of ...detachment - at least that's what I was taught back home - that I could never really master. I always approached it as an art of care and compassion." She flushed slightly, realizing she had said more than she meant to. "If...that makes any sense."

TheCountryWarrior

 

[SirGrey]

A small chuckle came from the thief as he said "I never said I wasn't a master thief now did I and no I'm gonna rob you of your purses or the like, I normally don't steal from folk I'm stuck down a cave with" the rich deepness of voice not allowing the cave to echo. "What I meant me long-eared dear is that since our princess is the only royal who may be alive, lets the other kingdoms especially the empire maybe not be too kind to her" he explains as he pulls a brown silver-handled pipe from his top pocket. Filling it with odd looking powder he continues saying "The danger I refer to is that if the other kingdom feel like they would rather take over this land then help it well all they would have to make sure of is that any of the royals who may have been lucky enough to survive meet an... untimely fate" as pulls out a match. Lighting his pipe, he pulls back a long drag with a smell like that of some dark honey filling the area around Decarcy.
Rhaine TheCountryWarrior

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Dan nodded with a slight smile. "Much nobler than some professions at the very least. Yes, it makes sense. The detachment part was only ever thought up because some things are too horrible to try to empathize with. The detachment is to save you from despair." Dan looked away as his expression darkened into that cold, emotionless gaze as old memories flooded back into his mind. Dan just ignored the Thief. He would probably betray them all to the highest bidder as soon as they left their sanctuary.
Rhaine

 

[Rhaine]

Ru was shaken slightly as Dan described the experience perfectly, as if he'd had a personal encounter with something very alike in nature. He looked away from her, his expression hardening once more. Ru wanted to ask, wanted to know what it was that twisted his bearing, but she lost her nerve before she could speak.

The Theif's voice reached through her disquiet. She looked to him, caution in her eyes, watching as he lit his pipe. His lilting words troubled her, though she tried not to let him know it. "Isn't it too early to think of that now?" She wished her voice had been more firm, more certain. Whatever dangers might arise later, they were safe here, or so she told herself.

She unconsciously ran a hand through her hair, and it came back dark with ash. Her brow bent at the sight. Her hands were stained with dried blood, and when she touched her face, she felt a layer of ash smeared over her cheeks. Suddenly acutely aware of her affected appearance, she bent her head slightly. "Mr. Carbonaro, did I hear something about water earlier? Could you point me in the right direction?" She wanted to rid herself of the ash and wash the blood from her hands as soon as possible.

TheCountryWarrior SirGrey

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Dan blinked, as if snapped out of whatever dark place he'd been. "Yes, follow me. I needed a drink anyway." He led her to the Water Room, glad to be away from the Thief. "Drinking water to the left, bathing water to the right. I mean a curtain would be ideal for the sake of modesty, but the guy who built this place apparently didn't care." Dan huffed with amusement, a feeling he wasn't expecting, and moved to the drinking water, kneeling to drink.

Rhaine

 

[Rhaine]

Ru followed closely behind Dan, relieved when the Water Room came into view. With the aid of his instruction, she began to move toward the pool on the right. She gave a light hum of agreement. "I suppose modesty wasn't on his mind. I assume this was only built to harbor the royal family. Perhaps he thought modesty wouldn't matter as much for relatives, though it does still seem odd." She spoke with the familiar lightness of voicing her thought process, an amused glimmer to her tone. She sat at the edge of the bathing pool, dipping her hands into the chilly water. It caused goosebumps to rise over her pale skin. She rubbed away as much of the dried blood as she could manage before she bent further, bringing the clear liquid against her face, gently washing the ash from her skin until it was clean and rosy from touch. She brushed her dark hair from her face, slipping a hand over the ash that clung to her neck, a slight shiver running through her. She kept her eyes lowered to the water.

There was almost a bashful quality to her movements. She wasn't used to having someone else in the room when she tended to herself, especially not someone of the male gender. "You said earlier that your mother took care of her children... you have siblings then?" She found herself speaking before she knew what exactly she meant to say, itching to make conversation and fill the silence. She slowly began to rinse the ash from her hair, working water into her dark locks.

TheCountryWarrior

 

[TheCountryWarrior]

Dan found himself looking the other way as she cleaned up, out of modesty of course. "Nine brothers and five sisters. And I don't think any of them understand modesty. I hope they're okay. Most of them anyway." He said sadly as he started to comb his hair with his fingers and looking at the ash he found in it. Looking at his reflection in the cool unbroken waters he saw he was still splattered with blood, from that morning and the night before. "I'm going to need a change of clothes at some point." He said under his breath. Still not looking at Ru he asked. "Do you have any family?" Rhaine

 

[Rhaine]

Nine brothers and five sisters?

Ru could hardly conceive such a thing, though she didn't voice her surprise. She glanced up towards him as he expressed his worry for his family, her gaze softening before her eyes returned to the water before her. "I'm sorry. Uncertainty is almost worse than the alternative... but, perhaps Dalania received the worst of it. I'm sure your family made it to safety."

Her dark hair now as clean as she could manage, wet strands clinging to her skin, she reached inside the satchel that still hung across her body. She retrieved a few drops of lemongrass and lavender oil, bringing it through her hair and into her skin, chasing away the smell of blood and ash. Her movements stilled briefly as he returned the question, hesitating slightly before answering, not remembering ever having been asked that before.

"Not by blood - that I'm aware of, at least. I was...adopted, I suppose would be the word for it... by the Bannighymn. They're...". She searched for the term. "A home of scholars. I had a very educational, though not very warm upbringing." She said this once more under the guise of lightness, or humor, though it was matter-of-fact in tone. "I can't imagine what it must have been like to grow up with such a large family." Her voice was quieter over her last statement, a bit of awe finding its way into her tone.

TheCountryWarrior

 

[SirGrey]

The thief raised a hand of goodbye as the crime bosses son and elf left. He could tell that Dan had no fond will towards him, maybe just because or maybe due to Decarcy's knowledge of Dan's true nature. He couldn't tell if the crime bosses son had revealed his true nature.Either way, it was no of his business. Sitting back against the rock he thought on what the elf said about worry about the queen's safety and it "Isn't it too early to think of that now?". "Hmm perhaps but then again you do not the ruthlessness of some rulers" he mused to himself as he took another drag on his pipe, the rich honey filling his mouth right before he exhaled another cloud of smoke.
Rhaine TheCountryWarrior