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Post by Terris on Jun 27, 2014 16:08:09 GMT -8
Terris grumbled as he trudged through the swamp, his hair tangled, his clothes muddy and any exposed flesh marred by mosquito bites. To say he was miserable would be an understatement, but he trudged forward nonetheless. Beside him, Whisper, unworied by the putrid stench of the quagmire, busied himself with pouncing on the little creatures that were squirming around him.
"I am going to murder that pload" he growled as his boot was pulled off his foot by a rather sticky patch of mud. He sat for a moment to re-attach his boot. The half-grown cat coming up to sit beside him, his usually pristine white and black striped coat completely covered in various fetid substances.
"Eww, Whisper, you stink" the knight complained. The eld'rani huffed and fixed him with a cool blue gaze.
Aren't you supposed to be a knight? Stop acting like such a sissy, you don't smell pleasant either. the adolescent said grumpily, before moving to a slightly dryer part of the swamp. He then threw his leg over his shoulder and began to groom, his back facing the knight.
"I really wish you wouldn't do that in public" Terris groaned.
We are not in public, there is nothing intelligent here but you and me, as far as I can tell, and you seem to be the only person anywhere that has a problem with me keeping myself clean. the young feline snorted his disgust at the human's odd notions and promptly went back to grooming himself.
"People do not bathe in public!" Terris protested. The cat turned his steady blue gaze on the knight, but said nothing. Terris, wisely let the matter drop, stood carefully, wiped his muddy hands on his equally muddy pants (though it did nothing to make them cleaner whatsoever), then began the trek once more.
Whisper waited a few more moments, finished cleaning his more sentitive areas and followed, scenting the area carefully for any sign of his bonded's missing pet.
"Do you hear that?" Terris asked suddenly. The eld'rani sent him a scathing glare, he had been born deaf, and such a question was more than a little insulting.
"Oh, right" the knight said sheepishly. "I can hear a buzzing sound...and a loud croaking! Hopefully it is James Pond, and not another marsh frog!" he said excited, and began to lumber slightly more quickly toward the sounds.
It was indeed James Pond. The brightly coloured Pload was in his element, gleefully surrounded by large, vicious looking wasps, his sticky tongue darting out and wrapping around one after another, the insects quickly disappearing into a greedy pink mouth. The pload's eyes rolling back with clear enjoyment each time he managed to catch one.
"Guess we found him...but how do we collect him without getting stung?" the knight pondered.
Perhaps he'll get bored and come to use when he's full. Whisper said, though he sounded doubtful. That pload had a stomach like a bottomless pit, he'd never get sick of eating the tasty bugs.
(500 word challenge, murder, swamp, sissy - 516 words)
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Post by Duzell on Jun 28, 2014 1:00:48 GMT -8
Duzell carefully picked his way through the swamp, trying to memorize as many details as possible while he walked. Ever since he had come here to get Princess he had been captivated by making a reliable map of the place. He was also secretly hoping that he could find whoever gave him that peach piece of devil spawn so he could give them a piece of his mind, but that was more of a secondary goal to be honest. Really, he enjoyed traveling to the secluded areas and seeing things he had never seen before. Nysath had refused to accompany him this time so Duzell had convinced Saint to join him instead. It did not really take much convincing; the Eld’rani was going stir crazy from being cooped up in the Nexus and Duzell feared for the safety of his pets. Saint got… interesting ideas of how best to entertain himself while Duzell was not around. The cub was quiet, thinking and plotting as always Duzell was sure, but Duzell could tell he enjoyed being out here. Even if it did stink and his coat was getting dirty. Saint had already demanded Duzell take him down to the stream so he could get a proper bath when they had finished here. Duzell had agreed, of course. Saint was quite demanding, but Duzell loved to spoil him, so he did not mind at all.
“Hold on a second Saint, I want to make some notes, since the ground is reasonable un-sinky here.” Duzell pulled one of the pieces of tree bark out of his pocket that he had been using for paper. Oh the little things you never realize you will miss. Duzell would have given just about anything for some real paper and a pen, but for now he was making due. Saint sighed. Nysath will be back before we even explore half the swamp. “Well, then we’ll just have to come back.” Saint said nothing to indicate whether or not he approved of this idea and instead busied himself with trying to catch some of the insects that were flying around. Duzell reached into his other pocket to grab the piece of charcoal he’d been using as a pen and. Oh hell. Duzell pulled a sleepy blue crystal spider out of his left pocket. Why the damn thing insisted on sleeping in there was beyond him. No wonder his coat had felt heavy. He had assumed it was the marsh water but clearly Fredrick had decided Duzell’s pocket was the perfect place for a nap. Fredrick, finding himself awoken in a strange place, jumped off Duzell’s had and began to explore. Saint quickly abandoned the flying insects and began to stalk the spider. “Saint, you leave him be. If he bites you there’s no telling when we could get the antidote.” Saint huffed. You’re no fun. He wouldn’t have a chance to bite me anyway. Duzell shook his head. “Fun or not, leave him be.” Saint turned and walked away from Duzell, clearly not interested in anything more he had to say.
Duzell finally located his charcoal, it had been in another pocket all along, and had just begun to write when Saint called out to him. Ooh, come here. You should see this. We aren’t the only ones here. Duzell picked up Fredrick, set him on his shoulder and hurried to where Saint was sitting. Saint had crept up behind Terris and Whisper. They all appeared to be staring at a large swarm of wasps and a very pleased Pload. Duzell walked up behind Terris and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. “Hey, fancy running into you here.” This may have put a crimp in his map making plans, but whatever was going on here seemed much more interesting. Pointing to the Pload, Duzell smirked. “That wouldn’t happen to be yours, would it?”
ooc: 500 word challenge, 644 words, seclude, crimp, reliable
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Post by Terris on Jul 1, 2014 12:54:37 GMT -8
Terris had been so engrossed in watching the pload that he had allowed the other man to catch him unaware. He jumped a little when Duzell tapped him on the shoulder, spun around, decades of training coming into play, and very nearly went into full attack mode, but stopped himself when he recognised the face. Good thing, too, he didn't want to have to drag a comatose human through the blasted swamp.
"Oh gods! You scared me half to death" he admitted, more than a little sheepish, then turned back to the pload, who was still plucking the large, fuzzy wasps out of the air. "Yep, he's mine, he went missing this morning, broke out of the little enclosure I'd been trying to make for him, Whisper tracked him into the swamp and we've been looking for him ever since. What are you doing in this armpit of a place?" He understood why he and whisper were slogging through the quagmire, he could not exactly leave his pload out here alone. Okay, so it was clearly happy out here alone, but he would miss the creature, as stupid and unappealing as it was, but being out here by choice, in the stinking mud? No, that was not something he could understand.
While the two humans talked, Whisper took the opportunity to stalk the pload, which was slowing down in its pursuit of the wasps. He crept forward his belly low to the ground, edging ever-closer to the greedy beast and then, as if by council decree, the wasps, who had seemed to be perfectly fine with being snatched out of the air by a pload, turned their attentions to him, swarming around him, their venom-tipped stingers jabbing at his furry body. Thankfully his fur was thick enough in most places to prevent any of the stings from hitting, but then, one particularly bright insect got the idea to sting the exposed flesh of his nose. That had certainly hurt!
The half-grown cat yowled and spat as his nose began to swell, his large paws swatted at the flying insects, which was really not the best of ideas, as another angry wasp managed to stick its stinger into his paw, which also started to swell. The cat turned, his blue eyes seeking out the comforting form of his bonded, and he ran toward him, his spines all standing on end, his tail lashing. Of course, the irate wasps followed...
Terris had looked up when the eld'rani had yowled the first time, his conversation with Duzell put temporarily on hold as he moved to assist his bonded, but he did not get the chance, the cat barrelled into him, knocked him on his ass in the mud, where he sat, stunned and blinking for several seconds. And then pain.
He had been stung by wasps before, back in his homeland. Those stings had hurt, but they were nothing like this. This was a burning, searing all-encompassing pain that travelled through every nerve in his body like an electric shock. He leapt to his feet, turned to Duzell, and shouted "Run!" then promptly followed his own advice.
James Pond, the pload, croaked grumpily as his food abandoned him, turned shiny, unintelligent eyes to the direction the wasps, and the other creatures went, and began his slow, but persistant pursuit of them. He would not give up until each and every one of those wasps was in his stomach.
(500 word challenge - comatose, council, fuzz - 580 words)
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Post by Duzell on Jul 20, 2014 21:07:06 GMT -8
Duzell did not hesitate to move; as soon as he saw the swarm heading for them he yanked Fredrick off his shoulder, stuffed the started Osidae in his pocket and took off running. Saint was already bounding ahead of them, cursing his brother for poking his nose into a swarm of wasps. Duzell was running as fast as he could but he was a book binder, not a sprinter damn it. He was starting to lag behind Saint. Then came the pain. The wasps back home were like a faint tickle in comparison. Duzell was fairly certain these may in fact be the most painful wasps in the whole of history. Determined to not be killed in a swamp by a swarm of bugs Duzell redoubled his efforts and ran as quickly as he could after Terris.
100 word challenge, 137 words, history
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Post by Terris on Jul 22, 2014 17:42:39 GMT -8
The pain of the wasps' stings was almost overwhelming in their intensity, but Terris, trained for centuries to endure such hardships grit his teeth and bore it. He chanced a glance over his shoulder, saw Duzell lagging behind, and stopped, turned fully back around and drew his twin blades. He ran toward Duzell, and careful not to slice the man to ribbons, began swiping at the wasps with the swords.
"Move away quickly, and mind the blades, or you could end up with a very nasty scar" he said to the other man, all business now as he faced his tiny foes.
Dead wasps, some in pieces, some just stunned, and others crushed by the flat of the knight's blades, began to fall to the ground, their fuzzy bodies quickly becoming thick with the sticky mud from the quagmire.
Terris was being stung, but the firey hot pain of the stings was somewhere in the back of his mind now, he was in full battle mode and was hardly aware of the fact. Oh, he would feel it later, of course, when the battle was ended, and he came back to himself, but for now, centuries of fighting had taken over.
It did not take long for the wasps to retreat, after a good dozen of them had met their deaths at his blades, they moved in unison away from him, their swarm, depleted, but probably no less strong, looking for other creatures to accost.
His breathing began to slow, his heart rate returned to normal, and all at once he was himself again, well, maybe a sorrier, much more pained version of himself. He looked around, a little hopelessly, mumbled an "Ow" and moved to find duzell and make sure the other man was okay.
Meanwhile, James Pond greedily devoured the wasp sushi his human had made...the dead ones were so much easier to catch!
(200 word challenge - scar, overwhelming - 310+ words)
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Post by Duzell on Aug 1, 2014 3:03:50 GMT -8
Duzell moved away from Terris and his swords, grateful for the aid. As the wasps retreated he looked to Terris. Terris fought like he came from a long dynasty of the greatest swordsman. He seemed unstoppable, at least to Duzell anyway. “Are you okay? That was...amazing. Someday I’m going to have to get you to teach me some of that. If you wouldn’t mind that is.” Duzell chuckled weakly as he spotted the Pload greedily snatching the dead wasps into its mouth. “At least your pload is no worse for wear. Want me to call Nysath and get us a ride out of here? He was waiting near the edge of the swamp for me to be done exploring.” Not waiting for Terris’ reply he called for Nysath to come pick them up. Between the stings and the running he did not feel like walking anywhere. At first Nysath protested, but after hearing the details of Terris’ and his misadventure, Nysath chuckled and agreed to come collect them all. Even the pload if he must. Duzell relayed this information to Terris and sat back to wait for his ride. Whether Terris joined them or not was his decision, but Duzell was more than ready to head home.
Ooc: 20o word challenge, 206 words, dynasty
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