MoD RP (Shaples)

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The man's face blanched at the threat. He was glad she was behind him so she didn't see how pale he'd turned, despite the brave face he was forcing himself to wear. For all the fear and jitteriness they were exhibiting earlier, they were strangely steadfast in their refusal to speak to Kari about what they were doing. For a moment, the man considered fighting back-- she was just a girl, shorter than him, even, and she didn't seem to be using her magic at the moment-- but once he'd gotten away, what would he do? The man simply let himself be led, keeping his eyes straight ahead as if being led to hang.


It didn't take long to reach the area where the object had been dropped-- in fact, they were still in view of the other men-- but the man in Kari's arms made sure to keep his eyes foward. He didn't look at the ground, didn't look at the tree, didn't wander to what he thought was a body laying off in the side... Just kept his mouth pressed shut and his head held high. Maybe she wouldn't be able to find it. It was dark, the grass was tall, and she was probably tired from having to use her magic. Surely she'd give up soon? Hopefully before she'd follow through with her threats.

 

[Shaples]

When the man she was dragging turned into a placid sack of potatoes in her arms, Kari realized she wasn't going to get anything out of him, either. At least he wasn't fighting. It wouldn't be too difficult to subdue him, but damn, she hated doing things the hard way. And she'd only been wearing one belt. And Yue probably wouldn't be in the mood to do her any favors when he came around, either. Kari huffed out a sigh. She'd just been trying to get a few hours of sleep. How had she ended up here? She stopped walking when she found the black slick of blood in the grass and cast her eyes around in the darkness, looking for the abandoned bag. It couldn't be too far away; considering how spooked the men had been, she didn't think they would have left it in the tree. That thought made her groan out loud, "I swear, if you make me climb another tree tonight..."


Keeping her arm firmly locked around the man's neck, Kari fed a trickle of magic down into her free hand, illuminating her palm with a soft glow and holding it aloft, casting a dim light on the area in front of her. With a little light, it didn't take long to spy the hastily-hidden bag (it didn't hurt that it was all of a foot away from the blood, or that the surrounding grass was all tramped down), and she pointed toward it, holding the soldier just out of reach. "So are you going to tell me what it is, or are you going to make me open it?" She paused thoughtfully, then added, "Or I could just stomp on it and be done with it."

 

[redribbon]

The man just kept silent, his lips pressed into a thin line. Despite the fact that he was trying to make a big show about his adamancy to keep from talking, he had a profoundly perplexed expression on his face, as if unsure of whether the threat would be a good or bad thing. The only thing he was sure of was he wasn't going to pick up the thing if she made him, and he made sure to keep his feet rooted firmly in the grass.

 

[Shaples]

Always the hard way. Obviously the three men wanted nothing to do with whatever object they'd been carrying, and obviously they were under orders not to disclose the nature of their mission, whatever it was. Unfortunately for all of them, Yue had picked that night to be a brat, and Kari had no way of knowing who, exactly, the men had gotten their orders from, which meant she couldn't just let them go. "You're probably just doing your job, but I have to be sure, or I wouldn't be doing mine." Kari sighed, tightening her arm around the man's neck."So, you get to wake up with a headache tomorrow. No hard feelings, eh?" She held him in a solid choke hold, compressing the big arteries on either side of his neck until she felt his body go slack and unconscious. As soon as he was out, she quickly let him go and laid him gently on the ground to check his pulse and breathing. He'd be fine in the morning. "Sorry, buddy," she muttered, then strode over to the pouch, removed it from its hiding place, and delicately upended it, careful not to touch whatever was inside as it fell down into the grass.

 

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Slipping out of the pouch was something that looked like a small bundle of twigs wound in patterned red cloth and slivers of gold jewelry. Black rope wrapped around the ends, creating what looked like limbs. On closer inspection, he twigs seemed to take on the shape of a person, like a little wooden doll. On the other underside of the strangely crafted object was its face: a small, crafted white mask that seemed to glow under the moonlight, with smiling, beady black eyes, two lines outlining a nose, and a bulbous red mouth puckered into a strange smile.

 

[Shaples]

For a long moment, Kari simply crouched down in the grass, staring at the little doll. The questions floating through her head piled on top of one another - all of them pressing, all of them unanswerable - until it was like listening to the ambient sound of a tavern late at night. What was this thing, why was it here, what was it for, who had sent these men and, for the love of all that was holy, why were they trying to put it up in a tree? The nebulous questions settled into a single solid sentiment on the tip of her tongue: "I hate this place."


Unfortunately, willing herself to wake up didn't seem to be working, so Kari picked up the pouch and scooped the little doll back up inside it, careful not to touch. She secured the bag shut and slung it over her shoulder, then pushed herself back up to her feet and headed over toward where Yue was lying flat on his back in the grass, evidently still out cold. For just a moment, she was tempted to leave him there - to see what would happen if he woke up with a broken jaw, surrounded by three incapacitated soldiers who were missing their creepy little doll. But in the end, at the very least he hadn't left her behind, and the last thing she wanted was to be more heartless than he was.


So, she knelt down in the grass beside him and gave him a once over. He was breathing steadily, but she'd done a real number on his jaw. She wiped her hands on her pants before pressing her fingertips to his face, prodding gently at his wounded jaw. It was an injury she could sympathize with - one she'd doled out on numerous occasions, and even received once or twice - but with any luck, Yue would wake with only a headache to show for it. After a moment of examining him by touch, Kari leaned in close, slowly and carefully letting her magic extend her awareness into the injury. She hadn't knocked out any of his teeth (thank the gods), and he hadn't bitten his tongue, but his jawbone was cracked in three places. Kari closed her eyes, breathing slowly and steadily, pushing the fractured bones into place with her hands and her magic, making absolutely sure they were positioned where they were supposed to be before letting her magic seep down into the breaks to repair them.


She was rationing her magic carefully, cautious not to overtax herself, but it had been a long night, and as the adrenaline started to fade, weariness settled in on Kari's shoulders. By the time Yue's jaw was fully healed, she was ready to forgo opening her eyes and just flop down in the grass and go to sleep herself, but she realized she wasn't quite done: he still had a hell of a bruise, and it tugged at the edge of her senses, unwilling to let her go until it, too, was healed. She slumped forward a little and sighed, holding herself up with one arm and cupping her free hand around Yue's cheek, letting her magic buzz against his skin and slowly chase away the darkness that had blossomed along the side of his face.

 

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Yue's eyelids fluttered at the warm sensation spreading around his face. He wrenched them closed to blot out a soft light in the fringes of his sight, and when that was futile, he opened them, althoug he could only manage to open them a crack. His unfocused eyes roved aimlessly around for a moment, spotting only blurry figures and a glow, before they suddenly snapped wide open. His hands followed suit, jumping up to fasten themselves onto whatever was touching his face.


Before he could attempt to break whatever was on his face, a pain shooting through his face caught his attention. As soon as the pain cut through him, a dull, throbbing ache started to drum into his ears. With a groan, he let go to clutch at his head, resorting instead to curl up and turn away from whatever was touching him.

 

[Shaples]

Kari's eyes snapped open when Yue grabbed onto her hand, her concentration faltering for a moment. When he rolled onto his side, though, so obviously in pain, she followed after him, keeping close and pouring more of her light into the lingering shadow of his injury, trying to chase away as much of it as she could manage. She murmured softly to him, soothingly, "Shh, shh, it's okay. Hold still, I'm almost done."

 

[redribbon]

Yue swatted in her general direction in case she decided to draw close.


"Don't touch me! Go away," he growled, more because he couldn't speak except through gritted teeth than through actual anger. The last thing he wanted was for anybody to touch his face. Everything was hurting-- there was a tender spot on his jaw that he wanted to press away-- but he couldn't for the life of him remember what happened and why it was hurting. The pain in his head was keeping him from thinking about anything other than the fact that for every beat of his heart, his brain seemed to press against his skull.

 

[Shaples]

Kari sighed, letting Yue bat her hand away and settling back on her knees in the grass behind him. "I can make it stop hurting, but not if you won't let me." She crossed her arms over her chest, watching him squirm and clutch his head. She'd really clocked him good, apparently, and despite herself she felt a little ripple of concern. He was acting a little like a kid with a sore tooth, which wasn't surprising (despite the fact that she suspected he was older than her), but the way he was sheltering his head made her worry that she'd missed something. Instinctively, she reached out and touched the back of his head, sliding her fingers into his hair and letting her magic spill back into him, searching his head and skull for any sign of an injury she might have overlooked.

 

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He jolted at the touch. There was a pleasant feeling spilling into the back of his head where she'd woven her hand through, but the fact that she was touching him, especially at such a vulnerable spot, made anger well up inside him instead of gratitude. Did she think he was weak? He didn't need her help. He didn't ask for it. It infuriated him that she'd go ahead and decide what he needed before he could make the decision himself, as if he were some child that needed to be cared for.


A violent gust of wind ripped through the area, uprooting some of the grass around them. As suddenly as the explosion of magic erupted, it came to a deathly halt, leaving behind only bits of dirt and debris drifting back down into the earth. The only thing in front of Kari was disturbed grass.


Instead of seating himself into the trees like he normally would, Yue could only manage to drag himself over a few meters away. Hopefully with the darkness surrounding him, she wouldn't spot him, although he was sitting in an open clearing like some standing buck. At the very least, he hoped she wouldn't approach him again while he got his bearings.

 

[Shaples]

Damn, he was fast. She'd been impressed when she'd seen him breezing past Faeran, keeping just out of his brother's reach. But now she realized that had been a game; he'd disappeared from right in front of her faster than she could blink away the blast of wind and debris. At the very least, that meant he was in good enough condition to make a run for it, which meant he probably wasn't concussed, and in the brief glimpse she'd gotten, she hadn't seen any other damage. She looked down at her hand, as if it could tell her why he'd fled, and found a few strands of Yue's vivid red hair caught around her fingers. They must have torn out when he bolted away from her. The sight made something click: he was reacting the same way she did when she was woken unexpectedly, moving on animal instinct. And she was probably the farthest thing from a friendly face. No wonder he had run.


When she looked down at the torn up earth in front of her, though, she had to wonder - with as much pain as he was in, how far had he gotten? Unbidden, her eyes started to scan the darkness, following the direction the wind had blown. He didn't want to be seen, so she didn't expect to spot him, but if he was still close... "I shouldn't have done that," she said, speaking just above a normal volume, "Sorry." She paused for a moment, not expecting a response, but trying to think what she would want a virtual stranger to say to her in his situation. Really, though, if it were her, she'd just want to be left alone. Kari sighed. "I'm going to go check on the soldiers. I could really use your help if you're still out there." She gave it a moment, then stood up slowly, hands held up in a pacifying gesture, before turning back toward the unconscious soldiers.

 

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He sneered at what he had managed to catch from Kari. There was no way he was going to show himself to her. First she embarrassed him with all her 'You touched me inappropriately' nonsense, then she apologized to him, then she punched him, and now she was apologizing again--


It was at that moment that he remembered exactly what had happened to him. She hit him. Balled her hand up into a fist and clocked him in the face while he was busy trying to shoot men down in the dark. Instead of anger, the wind magician found himself in confusion. Why did she hit him? As far as Yue remembered, Kari was the one who had encouraged him to kill them, after all. Or was all that just some show of bravado, and she were actually a human sympathizer? One thing was for sure: he hadn't been hit like that before, and she had a good punch.


The wind magician lifted a hand where her fist made contact with his face. It was tender, but it was nothing compared to his headache. He was surprised to find that he was mostly fine. Then again, he was used to getting roughed up; having Faeran as a brother meant you had to be sturdy, though getting knocked unconscious was another thing entirely.


'Must have patched me up,' he thought. It must have been what she was trying to do with his headache, too, when her grabby hands wound around his hair. 'Bah, the least she could've done was leave me alone.'


He could have dragged himself into the medic tent with a broken face and a pathetic limp (just because), and Faeran would have exploded. Then Kari'd get her comeuppance. Now that all trace of her abuse was gone, the only person who'd get in trouble was probably him. Why'd she bother to fix him up if she got so angry she wanted to rearrange his face anyway? Yue couldn't even begin to grasp the answer. He'd have never considered assisting anyone he'd decided to injure. That was just backwards thinking, and that was what Kari was asking of him right now.


No, he wasn't going to help. Kari could go ahead and trouble herself with the soldiers. She was lucky she struck him; he would have finished the job if his head didn't hurt so much. No, instead, Yue'd go back to his original plan: grab hold of the medical bag and stuff it into a tree before turning in for the night.

 

[Shaples]

Kari stopped in front of the soldier she'd knocked out and looked down at him. Suddenly, he looked very, terribly heavy. She ran her hand back through her hair and sighed, wishing she had some way to tie the guy up. She should have stolen Yue's belt before she started patching him up, but she was pretty sure he would have actually spontaneously combusted if he'd woken up to her unbuckling the harness from around his waist. The thought actually made her snort out loud. As it was, she'd probably never lay eyes on Yue again if he had anything to say about it. She shook her head. She'd come up with some way to explain things to Faeran, wear a bell around her neck so Yue could hear her coming, conspicuously skip lunch once a week so they could see each other. Something. She'd make it right.


...That is, assuming she didn't get in serious trouble for roughing up a couple soldiers and stopping them from... "Why the hell were they trying to hide a creepy doll in a tree?" She said it out loud, exasperated, then chided herself - she wasn't going to find an answer here. She bent down and hooked her arms in underneath the soldier's armpits and started to drag him back towards the other two. She'd check on the man Yue had shot, maybe tie them up with strips from their tunics? Then she'd find Faeran and hope she hadn't been baited into making a huge mistake.

 

[redribbon]

The man that with the belt bound around his arms and feet watched as the holy magician dragged his companion back over to them. He grimaced at the fact that she had knocked him unconscious. To him, it was unnecessary, but then again, she couldn't trust them in the least.


It was then that he finally spoke up. "So, did you, uhh, find it?" he asked carefully, as if he worried the wrong word or the wrong inflection would incur her temper.

 

[Shaples]

Kari laid the soldier down gently in the grass, then hooked her thumb under the strap of the pouch, lifting it up off her shoulder so the man on the ground could see it. "Are you going to explain? Because I would really, really like to get some sleep before the sun comes up, and I can't imagine you're super comfortable right now, either."

 

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The man grimaced again. His comrades were asleep. It would be very easy for him to say speak, but... Eventually, he shook his head. "Listen," he said with a sigh. "We'd love to tell you, but we can't say anything. I mean, do you really think it's something that important? Knowing what that thing is."


It was true that they were willing to get roughed up, shot, and kicked in the balls over it, but in the end, it was what it was: a crudely made, creepy little doll they were trying to stuff into a tree in the dead of the night.

 

[Shaples]

Kari stared down at him for a long moment, then sighed and sat down in the grass in front of him, resting her arms on her knees and leaning forward so he wouldn't have to crane his neck up to look at her. "Honestly, I don't know if it's important or not, and that's the problem. You could just be three jackasses wandering around in the dark, but whatever this thing is, you were acting like it was going to bite you, and the fact that you'd rather get knocked out and hog tied than tell me anything that might get you off the hook doesn't exactly make what you're doing seem innocent. I don't think you were lying when you said you were soldiers, which is why I stopped that asshole from killing all three of you, but you haven't exactly given me a reason to believe you, either." She looked his face over, then shook her head, "And I mean, come on, man, that doll is creepy as hell."

 

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The man couldn't help but offer her a sympathetic smile, despite the fact that he was in a very uncomfortable position at the moment. He would have shrugged too, if his posture would allow it. Alas, it didn't.


"Sorry, still not going to say anything," he said with a self-depreciating laugh. "If you're so worried, why don't you just take us to a commanding officer? Or bring a soldier over here. It's not like we can do much of anything here, unless someone wakes up."

 

[Shaples]

Kari blinked at him, then burst out laughing - her exhaustion and the awfulness of the situation and this guy's stubborn nonchalance all colliding and exploding into uncontrollable giggles. She clapped one hand over her mouth, clutching the other against her stomach, but it took her a minute to fully stifle her laughter.


When her fit had mostly died down, she wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and said around one last little chuckle, "Because I got lost in the dark and have no idea where the hell I am."

 

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The sudden laughter and Kari's words just seemed to drain the man of his smile. "We got an injured man here. The way it sounded, seems like all you did was patch him up. We should probably get him to a real medic as soon as possible," he said, a little perturbed by how jokingly she was taking the situation. Were all magicians like this, he wondered? His neck was starting to hurt from craning it upwards, so he laid his head down onto the grass. "We're still in the perimeter. Walk far enough that way and you'll either reach the tents or the walls eventually. There's bound to be soldiers there either way."

 

[Shaples]

His sudden seriousness brushed away the edges of her exhausted hysteria, and she quickly sobered. "I did a little more than patch him, but he lost a lot of blood before I got to him." She hesitated for a moment, then leaned over and started undoing the buckle on the belt, freeing the soldier's arms and legs. "And if you remember, I suggested we take him to a med tent, and you and your friend got all slippery on me." She wrapped the belt around her hand and forearm, then pushed herself to her feet and offered the soldier a hand up, "Think you can help me carry him?"

 

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The man rubbed at his wrists, which were a raw from the belt. He'd been trying to escape earlier, though honestly, he doubted he would have gotten far with lugging his comrade around. Luckily, the darkness dulled the redness of his injures. Hopefully it was enough to keep the magician from noticing it.


When Kari offered her hand, the soldier, with a smile on his face again, took it. "Hey, you were the one that attacked us. We were heading to the med tent just like you asked," he said, his voice light and with a joking tune to it again. "Sure, I'll help you out. You got any preference on who you want to carry?"


Honestly, any one of the men were probably taller and larger than the girl. Either one of them would probably be trouble for her. If worse comes to worse, he could probably carry the both of them, but he doubted how efficient he'd be dragging two lifeless bodies as opposed to asking for help.

 

[Shaples]

"Just so we're clear," she said seriously, "I wasn't the one who attacked your friend." She frowned, then shook her head, resisting the urge to apologize, or try to explain. "Are you okay to walk?" She'd noticed him rubbing at his chafed wrists, and though she hadn't left him tied up for very long, it wasn't exactly a great position for his circulation. "I think if we carry the injured guy between us, I can haul him on my other shoulder," she nodded down at the man she'd dragged over. "It won't be pretty, but..." She glanced up at him, "If you're up for it?"

 

[redribbon]

He just smirked and nodded while Kari explained who it was that attacked them. If she didn't do it, where was the other person? Then again, it was probably a magician like Yue anyway. There was hardly any people, magician or human, that could do something like shoot something that would completely pierce a man's torso. Not to mention the fact that there were hardly any people with the same kind of temperament as that guy either.


His eyebrows knit together despite the smile on his face when Kari started suggesting ways to take care of the other men. Was she offering to carry her friend? She was just a magician, while on the other hand, he was a soldier. Physical labor was his daily life. It was the one skill mere mortals could take pride in when compared to magicians. Sure, she was a holy magician and they tended to have freakish strength, but since she dragged his friend over, he doubted she was strong without the help of magic.


"How about we carry the injured man--" he said, nodding towards the man who had been shot, "--and then I carry my other friend?" He gestured down towards his unconscious companion. No sooner did he finish with his suggestion, the man stooped down to drape his companion's arm over his shoulder. With a heave leaving him slightly stooped over, the man lifted his friend up before turning to his other companion on the ground.