Take Back the Crown

Aaaaand it seemed that his words fell on deaf ears, for the most part. That, or Nameen was just was just done with people for the day, which he would totally understand. As foxrun left to go giggle with Valeiah, and Svetlana went to go talk to nick, Bo just sat and watched as Nameen chopped away at an innocent cactus and left to be by herself. If he was any good at reading people, he figured that maybe that was what she needed - some time to be alone and think. Like before, when they discussed magic, if she wanted to talk about it, she would talk to him first. It was probably better that way for her. It seemed that was how she worked. 


His attention was eventually caught by Pippa, who he could feel had his eyes on him. He turned to the dog, a small grin on his face. "What? Are you mad that I stopped petting you?" He frowned, but a smile was tugging at his mouth. "That seems like a petty thing to be upset about. Haha." And with that, he picked up the dog and rubbed his head and played with his ears roughly before simply petting his head and neck again. He carried Pippa in his arms over to Aggie. He motioned for her to come join them all by the fire as the group wound down for the night. "Hey! Let's go sit. I wanna hear more about this magical school of yours, if that's alright."


@Tater @/Rydellius
 
The smaller dark skinned woman watched as the others milled around, finally calming down after the whole fiasco with the canyon. exhaling slowly, hhe smiled and closed her eyes, her head tipping forward with a mixture of relief and tiredness. Adjusting her emerald cloak around her shoulders tightly, she tucked her nose into the hem of the fabric before looking up at Bo as he spoke. Widening her gaze, her cheeks grew darker as a hidden smile spread across her face,"My school? A-ah of course Id like to!" her heart was fluttering a mile a minute as she trotted towards him excitedly. 


Pippa on the other hand was enjoying the rough petting he was getting. His small stump of a tail was going a mile a minute as he closed his eyes and panted with bliss. 


/ This man is amazing with his hands! The way he caresses my little cheeks and my massive ears oh goodness I really like this one I want to keep him. Can I have him?/ his voice was less menacing when he was purring with delight. / This little body of mine is going crazy. Look at the leg!/ he yapped as one of his hind legs beat against Bo's chest in response to the petting.


Agitha smiled softly as her familiar's reaction as she sat down across from Bo, her cloak flaring out around her,"He really likes you." she chuckled softly.


@soundofmind
 
"Good. He ought to like me. I'm certainly petting him enough for him to." Bo said decisively, before eagerly asking her questions. "So, what was your school like? How long did you attend there? What kinds of things did you learn?" 


@Tater
 
Smiling quietly, she placed her hands in her lap and collected her thoughts,"Well...going to the school wasn't my idea. It was his." motioning to Pippa, who was now curled up in Bo's lap happily resting, Agitha exhaled slowly,"I attended there since I was seven so about...twenty some years? "she thought for a moment before nodding in confirmation,"Yea." picking at her fingernails slightly she tipped her head slowly,"We were taught on how to control our powers and dig down deep at the source and helped grow it. More of a ...find out who you are kind of thing." moving the fabric from her face slightly, she closed her eyes.


"Pippa wants me to be strong so I can be a good Master of Magicks. I really hope to study the stars and do some sort of healing magic in the future. That's why getting to this stone and studying it for my final task is really important." pulling her knees to her chest she blushed deeply,"I already saved up the money to buy this little empty shop Ive been wanting to fill up with my collections and sell potions and spells...simple little things like that." tucking a strand of hair away from her face she looked down,"Seeing if I get out of this journey in one piece." 


@soundofmind
 
Wow, she has like, goals and plans for life and stuff. Meanwhile I have no idea what I'm doing after this - he hadn't even dared to really dream beyond this journey, finding it easier to depend on the uncertainty that he would or wouldn't get out of it alive or in one piece. Really though, it was more of an excuse to not think about it. Possibly-not-really-certain death seemed like a good enough reason to avoid thinking about the future and what it would look like (besides a general, vague, "better-ness"). 


"That's really cool." Bo smiled, the compliment being fully genuine. "I wish I would've been able to go to a school like that. I feel like that would be a better setting to learn how to control them and stuff. Cause, since it's a school, there's room for error and what not. Since you're still learning. At least, that's what I imagine it would be like... maybe I'm wrong. Like, I don't know how to make potions or anything like that. I'm a bit of a one trick pony. I've just got the lightning thing, far as I know. Uh -" he corrected his wording quickly, to make more sense. "Like, I've never really tried much else. Never had a teacher, or anyone to encourage me to branch out. So I think it's really cool that you want to open a shop where you can do magic and what not. It sounds like it's something you really want to do, even if Pippa -" He gave the dog a little noogie, smiling.  "-might've pressured you into it."


@Tater
 
Listening attentively to her newfound friend, a smile grew across her face,"Yea? I always thought it was kinda...silly. A generic dream of sorts, I guess." her face now going a deeper color of navy. 


Pippa twitched a little as he was noogied and replied with a yap and gentle mouthing to Bo's fist, his eyes looking up at him with challenge. Aggie chuckled slightly and perked up a little bit,"Well if you wanted, I could teach you some basic stuff if we ever get the chance....if you wanted of course. It's really easy stuff, like meditation and all that." pressing her palms together she pressed her thumbs to her lips and smiled quietly, her silver eyes giving a glint of glee. 


@soundofmind
 
Bo simply grinned smugly at Pippa's look, and pat his head again. "That would be really nice actually. Maybe it would help me get more in touch with the more spiritual -" he made air quotes, "-side of myself. I've never really been sensitive to that sort of thing. Like, the presence of dark magic or whatever. I mean, if it's strong enough I can sense it I guess. But I guess in general I'm pretty dense when it comes to that sort of thing. Most stuff just kinda feels the same and blends together..." He shrugged, lifting his hands up as if he were juggling. "I don't really know how meditation works. I never really saw much point in slowing down, but I'd be open to learning."


@Tater
 
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Her breath hitched slightly as he mentioned dark magic. Haphazardly she glanced down to Pippa, who was now silently curled up in Bo's lap. If Aggie could focus enough she could see her famliar's aura, which was dark and whispy and had some sort of partical coming from him..like flies. Shaking off the thought she smiled and put her palms towards Bo happily,"Ah great! I look forward to it; it's been awhile since I calmed down and let myself settle, actually." crossing her legs she rested her hands in her lap and closed her eyes, letting her shoulders droop as she exhaled. 


"I like thinking of something nice and familiar and just...think about how it makes me feel." looking up to the sky, she smiled softly as she saw clusters of stars.


Well...at least with being out in the clear desert they had a beautiful view of the sky. 


@soundofmind
 
Bo noted that she seemed to re-position herself to relax or something. "Wait, like, do you mean think of something right now?" Bo looked around at the group of them sitting around the fire, and the other scattered father away by themselves. "...Or, um, are you just explaining?" He looked down at Pippa in his lap, as if the dog might have a more immediate answer, but it looked as if he was asleep in his lap at this point. 


At that moment though, he finally got a decent look at his clothes in the firelight, and came to the sudden realization that he really should've brought more with him on this trip. Not that he ever really had more to bring, but heck, if his clothes kept getting trashed like this he was just gonna have to walk around in ripped up and bloody clothes. Which didn't sound nice. Making a mental note to change later, he looked back up to Aggie, still feeling kind of under-prepared if she was going to teach him right at that moment. He didn't think she was. Probably not. Hopefully not.


@Tater
 
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Dorian laid on a sandy dune,  watching the dark night sky. He knew that the explosion which had taken out the crawlers would be  seen quite a way out and would definitely attract the attention of a certain someone. So he continued searching the sky and, yup, the it was. Among the stars, a spot difficult to make out for someone who was not searching for it. Golden and small, it shimmered like a faraway star, but moved through the sky as fast as a flying bird. Suddenly, it vanished.


"Hi, Kitten." Dorian stood up and greeted Kacel'la right as she appeared besides him.


"Damn ya'll look like shit." The elf stated as she looked around at the group, then instantly groaned and slapped a palm over her face in embarrassment. "I need to think before I speak." She sighed. "What did you all even do? Annoy a nest of crawlers?"


"We did." Dorian replied in a flat tone, making Kacel’la laugh. She stopped when Dorian kept glaring at her.


"Wait... you actually annoyed a camp of crawlers?" She asked.


"Yup. Weren't you supposed to go directly to the pyramid?" Dorian changed subject.


"I did. Flied around. And then I saw an explosion and flares so I decided to see what was happening." She explained.


"You forgot to shift your hands back completely." Dorian suddenly stated quietly.


Kacel’la looked down at her hands. Where gloves did not cover her fingers, skin was dusted with faint impressions of gold scales, and nails were pointed and black.


"Thanks for pointing it out." She mumbled and watched as her fingers returned to the normal, more human-like appearance. "Shall we see what the group is up to?" The elf asked and before Dorian could answer, dragged him away towards the others.
 
She kept her eyes closed and smiled kindly into the air,"No I'm going to do this myself. You can follow if you want. Im sure all of our minds are racing after today. Mine sure is." 


Lifting her hands across her stomach, she inhaled smoothly and let her body relax, her head bowing down quietly,"Steady breathing...in and out." raising her hands towards her chest now as she inhaled, she then exhaled and lowered her hands,"Mmm."


Pressing her palms together, she tipped her head back, the hood of her cloak falling off her head to show her face in the campfire light.


@soundofmind
 
"Oh. Ok." Bo decided to sit this one out. If he was going to relax after today it was going to be by sleeping soundly, curled up on the desert floor far from cacti. He gave a forced grin that quickly faded, since he didn't want to interrupt her meditation. But he found himself trying to halfheartedly follow her instructions. Steady breathing seemed simple enough, but once he got to thinking about it, he realized just how fast his heart had been racing even many minutes after all the chaos. So amazingly, it was hard at first. As he slowed his breathing he looked down at Pippa, who looked like he was falling asleep in his lap. He kept petting the dog’s back slowly, combing through his fur.


He looked up to Aggie, who seemed to be calming down a bit. At the very least, she seemed a little more comfortable afterwards, but that might’ve just been because now he could see her face. With a clear view, he could make out more of her elf-life features. She looked quite a lot different from Oceana and K’acela though.


Hm. Think of something nice and familiar.


...nothing really came to mind that fit both of those descriptions, and he didn’t push to think of any. Oh well.


@Tater
 
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Pressing her palms against each other in almost like a prayer form, she slipped her right hand up to the air and opened her eyes, following her gaze to her one hand. 
For a moment it seemed like she was back at her dorm alone with her incense sticks... the calmness off the environment. She missed it at the moment. Inhaling slowly, she spread her fingers apart and pulled her lips into a line,"Find...your.." she mouthed to herself as her eyes closed, her body feeling softer than normal. 


As she struggled to find something good about herself at the time, her brows furrowed with frustration, a bit of moisture coming to her eyes.


Pippa grumbled in his sleep and nuzzled against Bo's stomach, enjoying the warmth of the large mass of a person. 


@soundofmind
 
...happy place. His thoughts auto-completed Aggie's silent sentence, although he wasn't positive that those were the words she was looking for. It was kind of strange to just watch someone meditate. In fact, it felt pretty invasive, since it seemed like a really personal and introspective thing. So he decided to just turn away so he wasn't facing her, and instead facing the fire. He swiveled in the sand, making sure not to disturb the sleeping Pippa in his lap. 


Now he had to find something to think about, since it seemed kind of rude to just start talking to someone else, and he didn't want to interrupt Aggie. Sleeping sounds nice. So does eating. Oh my gosh why did you think of food, now you're gonna feel hungry again. Ok, let's try something else.


He looked off at the stars, tracing them together in his mind. Remember when you first saw the stars? Pictures of the sky ran through his mind - the open air and the salty seas, waves lapping up on the sandy beach. The stars shining brightly, each distinguished in its own place in the sky, and to put it poetically, making him feel less alone in the world while simultaneously gazing upon how large it was.


Huh. I guess that's a nice and familiar memory. Look at that. I did it. I followed the instructions... sort of.


@Tater
 
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Her happy place didn't come easy to her. Growing up on a strict regime of timely chores, work and studying after being abandoned by your parents because the way you look was....hard. Wetting her lips quietly she exhaled slowly, straightening her back and trying to get her composure. Easy girl. Dropping her hands quietly she hung her head slightly, rubbing her face after a moment,"Head is too loud I can't." she whispered quietly. 


If she had managed to find a happy place she could continue to hold onto that thought and expel the negativity in her head.


@soundofmind
 
"I get you." He knew her whisper was meant for herself, but he had keen enough hearing to make out what she said with their close proximity to one another. "That happens to me too. I guess that's why I don't really like the idea of meditation... cause it sounds hard." He gave a small smile, knowing it wasn't much of a reason not to try something, but that it was his reason nonetheless. "That's why I mostly just kind of - live in the now, ya know? But if I think about it too much I'll always think my way out of it. On one hand, I'll be like: well, you can learn from your past, but you don't have to let it define you. You can always start over. And on the other hand I'm like: maybe I should look to the future. Having vision for your life is important. And I see no reason why I can't think about all those things except that I don't..." He cringed within himself, awkwardly, feeling uncomfortable with how flimsy his logic was (at least, when he didn't tell the whole story) and he began wondering how in the world he let himself get so far into that sentence without stopping himself. "...I don't... really... like to." He shrugged his shoulders up tensely, pulling his head back into his neck, giving the appearance of several 'chins.' It was as awkward as it was goofy, which was the only way he knew how to redeem the conversation - by trying to make people laugh. He gave a little grin, really hoping this made her laugh instead of making things more awkward.


@Tater
 
Looking towards him quietly, she smiled and nodded slowly,"I'm going to be honest...I wasn't very good at meditation myself. My mind is too loud." her face went dark as an embarrassed blush came across her complexion,"I can teach well for some reason."


Listening closely to his words, she looked down at her hands in her lap and exhaled,"I wish I had your type of...outlook on the past and such, Bo." leaning back a little she tipped her face to the sky and closed her eyes, enjoying the brief desert breeze that filtered through her hair,"Oh what I would give to not let my past shape me. Id do it over if I could..."


Pippa raised his head slowly and set his gaze on his Master, his ears swiveling with interest.


@soundofmind
 
"The past is the past. Either way, you keep moving forward. Even if you choose to live in the past in your head or whatever." Those weren't his words, they were someone else's. But he was going to steal them anyway. "I'm not really saying that the past doesn't affect you, and that there are never lasting consequences. Scars'll convince you of that much. They don't really fade away for a very long time. But really all I mean was that you never have to wait for some big life change or opportunity to be intentional about what kind of person you want to be... does... does that make sense?"


@Tater
 
Nick narrowed his eyes, trying to think of a suitable course of action.  He had been counting on the symbolic nature of him handing over his goggles - hoping it might convince at least someone he wasn't an ass.  After a moment, he sighed and went to his horses and packed his goggles into a saddlebag before removing the tack and putting it all in a tidy pile set somewhat away from the others.  I should probably just keep my distance for now.  Maybe someone will be a little more personable tomorrow.  Nick dug through the bags from his packhorse and took out a hoof pick, a set of brushes and combs, some rags, and two different flasks of liquid.  Even though he knew both horses were very calm and patient, Nick sang an ancient lullaby in a deep, resonant, but quiet and soothing voice, and almost always had at least one hand on them as he picked their hooves clean, checking the frogs for thrush, cuts, and bruises, then went over their bodies with each comb until their coats gleamed in the firelight.  Then he took up the rags and dampened them with a diluted mixture of Clove, Lemon, Cinnamon, Eucalyptus, and Rosemary oils - a mixture he had learned of from grave-robbers several decades ago that warded off disease.  Finally, he dampened some more rags and wiped each horse down with a mild fly repellant - it smelled faintly of vinegar and eucalyptus.


Grooming the horses served to calm Nick down as well.  Horses - especially these two - were much easier to deal with and better company than almost any sentient being.  Seeing his horses were clean, comfortable, and healthy, Nick cleaned and rinsed everything before packing it all back up and sitting down with his back against his pile of stuff, drawing his hood back up over his head and tugging it down over his eyes.
 
Oceana watched quietly as Nick cared for his horses and felt guilty about simply leaving Dahlia to her own devices.


Taking a strand of inky black hair between her fingers, she observed the alchemist rub down the animals and a strange smell wafted over. Herby and sharp, it reminded her of the ritual elven soap one applied before ceremonies, including the events where young elves were marked with the customary tattoos.


The nostalgia on the wind made the elf clench her eyes shut, pain and betrayal still fresh in her heart.


Harrumphing loudly, she turned away from Nick, in an even more sour mood than before.


@GlytchMeister
 
"Chuckles save me!" Dorian called out half-seriously, half in theatrical pleading to Oceana as Kacel'la dragged him by. He really did not want to be stuck besides Kacel'la who tended to always talk to people, as he really wasn't in a mood to socialise.


It must have been quite a funny sight, Kacel’la easily pulling Dorian along by his arm, the familiar digging his heels into the sand which didn't help him stop at all. It wouldn't have helped anyway. Dorian was sure that they could dress the heaviest person in the group in full heavy steel armor, and Kacy would still pull them around with ease, at least for a short while. Dragon strength was quite frightening at times.


@OlKaJa77
 
Oceana was scowling at the fire when Dorian and Kacel'la were passing by.


The elf was rather surprised to see the bigger familiar being hauled around by her fellow elf quite effortlessly. Especially considering the way Dorian was digging his heels in the sand.


The raven-haired elf scoffed and rolled her eyes at his pleading.


Still feeling the wretched crawling her memories sent down her spine, she nonetheless felt a tiny bit obligated to rescue him from Kacel'la's clutches, benevolent as those clutches may be.


"Come sit here, you two." She murmured softly, albeit a grumpily.


She didn't absolutely hate Dorian and Kacel'la was an elven sister.


She could bear to sit next to them, she supposed.


"You're fine?" She huffed, trying to play off her concern as annoyance. "Nae hurt are yeh?"


@L1d1ja
 
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"Thank you." Dorian said to Oceana as Kacel'la finally released him and they both sat down besides Oceana. "And I'm okay." He added, trying to ignore the scratch of bandaged wounds under his clothing. It was quite easy with him being used to it.


"Hi Oceana." Kacel'la greeted the other elf. "I see you made it out of the crawler mess rather okay." She noted. "Why we're you trying to stare the fire to death? Is every thing alright?" She asked jokingly.


@OlKaJa77
 
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Oceana scrunched her nose and opened her mouth.


She was about to tell Kacel'la her unease about her old clan but caught a glint of the fire off of Dorian's cunning eyes.


She snapped her mouth shut and shrugged, appearing apathetic.


"This particular fire just annoys me. Must be the elven savage in me." She joked bitterly, glacial eyes focusing back on the dancing flames. A lit chunk of wood hissed and split before her eyes; the glowing heat turning the once-alive wood into crumbling coal and ashes.


Suddenly a memory came;  of her clanmates burning alive, screaming and crying unintelligible animal noises of pain as the flames swallowed their skin and hair. She swore she could smell it as it all burned.


Your fault! Their noises screeched at her, All your fault!


Hissing under her breath and clenching her eyes shut, the elf curled into her folded knees.


She couldn't look at the fire anymore, it was burning her eyes.


@L1d1ja
 
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"Please don't call our race savages, we're at least slightly better than that." Kacel'la remarked jokingly. Her happy expression fell instantly when she saw Oceana hiss and look away.


"Maybe if the fire annoys you so, we should go somewhere away from it?" She asked.


Dorian took Kacel'la's distraction as a chance to quickly shift and run off before she could notice.


@OlKaJa77
 
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