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Post by Aleu on Nov 23, 2007 22:03:03 GMT -6
"Don't wave that thing around, you'll only hurt yourself," said David, pushing Jukka's spear out of the way. "My name's David. The train is having a minor emergency right now, because it appears that everyone except you, I, and a few others have mysteriously vanished." The carriage rumbled and shook, as if reminding him not to forget the explosions outside. "We also seem to be caught in the middle of a meteor storm. So if you would kindly get your things together, our group is securing a compartment to meet up in."
"You all," he said, waving at Ceil and company. "Go with this man back a couple cars, there should be three people waiting there. I'll keep on going."
--
Back in the cabin, Aleu and Serene had stuffed most of the small things into a large trunk, which they strapped to the floor. Everything else that could fly around was wrapped into a large blanket and wedged under a seat. Now Aleu was busy laying down enchantments around the car to offer some improvisional protection, with Kapu lending a hand. Serene had taken it upon herself to search other end of the train, even though she'd have to walk through the maelstrom of glass and dinner plates that was the dining car.
When she returned, she held a scimitar in one hand and a small boy in the other, with the former pressed to the latter's throat. "Who's that?" Aleu asked, standing up to take a look. Serene shrugged, then dropped him unceremoniously to the floor.
"Dunno. He tried to rob me, though."
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Post by Presea Combatir on Nov 26, 2007 18:47:38 GMT -6
"I wasn't trying to rob you, per se," Kysho began, getting back to his feet with an exaggerated roll of his eyes. "Rob is such a hateful word, isn't it? I was just gonna, y'know, borrow that very spiffy boomerang weapon thing you have and look at it, because it's very, very spiffy looking. And, y'know, maybe not return it for a while because I want to admire its amazingly spiffy aspects for a... while... Jeez, why do people always seem to think I'm so suspicious." He quickly glanced at the door not too far away and sprinted towards it full speed.
~
Ceileuse scratched the back of his head, looking to Jukka. "Well, shall we head over there-" he was cut off when Ailyse pushed past him and started down towards the compartment.
"While you're standing around talking, someone could be getting hurt!" she exclaimed, stretching out her arms before reaching for the door handle.
"She's always so assertive," Ceileuse muttered to himself, following slowly after her. "Come on, Jukka..."
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Post by Jukka Canola on Nov 26, 2007 21:56:25 GMT -6
Well well, the train ride that had just been starting to get dull had really thrown Jukka for a loop. He had woken up to explosions and shattering glass caused by a meteor storm outside the train while everything inside the train flew everywhere due to the large shocks, and just as Jukka was go to find out what happened, some man he had never seen on the train before told him people were vanishing and there was a "minor emergency." He had then directed him to a safe compartment - boring.
Jukka met up with Ceileuse, who had also been directed to the same compartment, and as they were walking towards it Ailyse was standing at the door. She muttered something about safety and Jukka looked to Ceileuse with a sarcastic smile and rolled his eyes. Ailyse slid the door open and stepped inside. Jukka and Ceileuse were just about to round the corner into the compartment when Ailyse was flung back out of the room and Kysho - the one who was begging for money yesterday - went flying out out of the room away from them.
"Well, an excuse not to be stuck around in the safe room eh?" He went over to help Ailyse up and watched as Kysho got furthur down the hall. "Anyone else wanna come?" He asked as he grabbed his large spear from his back.
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Post by Presea Combatir on Nov 27, 2007 17:40:13 GMT -6
"That snotty little brat," Ailyse huffed under her breath as Jukka helped her get up. "Thanks Jukka... Man, I am going to punch him the next time I see him." Once back on her feet, she dusted off her skirt with a frown and folded her arms. "I'll stay here with the others, you two can go find Kysho."
Ceileuse stared down the hallway as Kysho slid around a corner, continuing to flee. That kid never seemed to calm down, ever, and was always in so much trouble, it made the manakete's head spin. "Okay... Let's head out, then." He glanced at Jukka with a quick smile before spreading his sinuous black wings. "I'll hurry ahead and try to cut him off." Giving one powerful boost off the ground, Ceileuse glided slightly above the floor and shot off after the thief in the enclosed hallway.
"Pinch his stringy little arms once for me," Ailyse called out to Jukka before entering the compartment with Aleu and Serene. "That kid is the most annoying thing ever... He'll get eaten by a whale someday, I swear," she muttered to herself.
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Post by Aleu on Nov 27, 2007 18:33:59 GMT -6
Serene threw a glance towards Ailyse as she entered, noting the wings with some interest. "Hallo," said Aleu, standing up from the floor and gripping the window to steady herself against another explosion. "My name's Aleu. This is my brother, Kapu," she said, tapping him on the back as he labored over the protective spells, "and my sister, Serene." The winged girl made a little wave.
"Sit down somewhere and hang on," Aleu said, settling into a chair and gripping the armguards. "So what's your story?"
------
"Oh, excellent, another one," said David. He halted and turned around, listening to the approaching footsteps and catching glimpses of a little tuft of hair bobbing up and around a couple cars down. "Looks like he's not slowing down," he muttered, drawing his sword and raising it in front of him. "I'll just.. give him a hand."
Swwoooosh. The blade sliced through the air smoothly, leaving a thin line in its wake. David sheathed his blade and ducked behind a chair, peeking out and watching at the line faded into nothing. The first one to trigger the magical tripwire would find a nasty surprise blasting through the next door into his face.
David glanced back at the whale hiding in the next compartment. Excellent~
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Post by Jukka Canola on Nov 30, 2007 20:26:36 GMT -6
Ceileuse had already rounded the corner that Kysho had just disappeared behind. Jukka saw Ailyse safely to the compartment and then took off sprinting in the same direction. He rounded the corner and saw a long straight away ahead followed by another corner, which he saw a glimpse of Ceileuse flying around. Jukka sprinted on, rows of empty seats on either side of him. A meteor rocked the car was in and he flew sideways, smashing himself into the opposite wall and landed on the soft seat. "Dammit!" He was a little careless but nothing to bad had happened, and he got to his feet and pressed on.
He rounded the corner to see Ceileuse and Kysho chasing each other around the emptier car, with a few rows of seats at the end. Jukka ran up to help Ceileuse. Kysho noticed and ran off right towards the trap that had been laid just moments before.
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Post by Presea Combatir on Dec 1, 2007 12:28:34 GMT -6
Kysho was rushing over full speed towards the other end of the compartment, not turning around to see the two chasing him. He pondered jumping out the nearest window, but decided that'd be bad, seeming as there was a meteor storm outside. Dang. He was in so much trouble once he got caught.
"I'll circle around and catch him off guard up there," Ceileuse pronounced, glancing at Jukka before flapping his wings with vigor a few more times. He wished there was blowing wind in here to help him glide. Passing Jukka and around a dozen pairs of seats, he neared Kysho before passing the brunette thief, triggering the tripwire without knowing it. The hairs in the back of his neck pricked up, and he felt something bad was going to happen.
"Damn," Kysho muttered, stopping in his tracks. He turned to see Jukka headed towards him and realized he was caught inbetween when he heard something happening behind him near Ceileuse. He quickly looked to see the weirdest thing ever, and sweatdropped.
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Post by Aleu on Dec 2, 2007 16:54:57 GMT -6
The door burst open, and the whale torpedoed outwards and into the air, mouth wide open. The shift in air pressured caused a suction effect: Ceil was quickly yanked inside, and then the mouth closed. It fell towards the floor, landing with a thu--- No, that wasn't a thump. That wasn't a thud either. It made a "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALE" sound as it hit the ground.
David stuffed his arm into his mouth to keep from laughing.
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Post by Presea Combatir on Dec 2, 2007 17:17:39 GMT -6
"WHAT THE FREAKIN' HELL IS THAT," Kysho stated, not expecting an answer of course. He turned to Jukka with wide eyes, and noticing the stunned expression on the man's face, he took advantage of the situation and darted past Jukka. The thief didn't know whether to fear the whale more or where he had come from. Maybe it would have been best to really just jump out the window and get killed by a meteor.
"Uh," Ceileuse muttered, still confused at what happened. He wondered how he'd explain this one to Ailyse. 'Hey, Ailyse, I got eaten by a whale today. Have you ever heard of a vegetarian whale? This wasn't one, because I'm no rutabaga.' What.
~
Ailyse flopped into a chair across from Aleu and Serene, mostly against her will since it was a bump from the train that sent her crashing down into it. "Um, my story? My story's pretty boring, actually. Cei, that's my friend you saw with the black wings, and I were at some shop. I don't really know why, but the clumsy goofball managed to knock down a pretty expensive looking vase. I don't even know why a vase was in there, it was some kind of weapon store. What, is someone gonna assassinate someone with a vase? But anyways, we had to pay for it and now we're near broke."
She sighed with a roll of her eyes, sinking down into her chair after another bump from the train. "We heard there was some coliseum or something at the next city over, and we thought we'd get some money there."
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Post by Jukka Canola on Dec 2, 2007 19:14:43 GMT -6
Hah...we got him now! Jukka grinned as Ceileuse flew to Kysho's other side. He was trapped. For the moment anyway. The next moment however, a whale rocketed out of the compartment whose door Ceileuse was standing outside of. It crashed onto the floor on top of Ceileuse. The whale rolled over on the floor - but no Ceileuse. Ceileuse was...inside the whale?! Jukka's eyes popped out not believing what he was seeing...or rather, not seeing.
Kysho seized the opportunity and darted past Jukka back the way he had came. At this point, Jukka didn't care about catching the thief - he wasn't that bad anyway. He raised his large spear, took a deep breath and charged at the whale.
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Post by Aleu on Dec 2, 2007 21:29:05 GMT -6
David stepped out and grabbed Jukka's spear with one hand, pressing the other into Jukka's shoulder. "Easy, buddy. Go fetch the runaway, your friend's fine," he said before releasing him. "I'll just... reach into this thing here annndd..." He plunged his hand into the side of the whale's mouth, who didn't show any signs of discomfort.
-pluck-
"Hi." Holding Ceil aloft in one hand, David waved his sword at the whale, causing it to evaporate away. "Not quite who I was looking for. Come on, let's head back. The others must be waiting. Spear boy, think you can handle the little twerp? It shouldn't be too hard: trains only have one path you can take."
-----
"Really, now?" Aleu clucked, bracing herself against another impact. "That's no good. If I were you, though, I'd skip the next town and head down another two days. The betters at that coliseum tend to be a lot looser with their purses."
"But then again, Kapu and I have never really worried much about money. We've always had the --" here another jolt rattled the car. "Backing of the clan. Serene, on the other hand..."
Serene turned away and put her hands into her pockets. "The second coliseum is better," she said quietly, each word measured and even. Serene pressed her fingers against the window and began to trace a pattern. "Much better," she murmured.
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Post by Presea Combatir on Dec 4, 2007 16:30:18 GMT -6
Ceileuse glanced at Jukka, giving him a short nod and wave. "I guess I'll see you later." He started to head back in the direction of the compartment with the others, reaching out for the handle to pause, his hand hovering above it. The manakete looked back to Jukka with a half-hearted grin. "Good luck. I hope he doesn't give you too much trouble," he called out encouragingly before leaving the current car and heading back.
~
Ailyse gave Aleu and Serene a smile, clutching the arms of her chair tightly as the train rocked back and forth. "Thanks for the advice. We don't really know this area at all..." She noticed how uneasy Serene was acting and considered asking about it, but decided otherwise. She'd just met them, and didn't want to bring up any uncomfortable subjects.
"So you guys have a clan? That sounds interesting. Makes my family seem boring, but I've alway thought my family was boring, so there's nothing really new there, I guess." The train seemed to be in a short period of calm, and she pursed her lips, lifting her left foot to rest it on her right. Weaving her fingers together across her stomach, she leaned her head back to stare at the ceiling with a heavy sigh.
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Post by Jukka Canola on Dec 4, 2007 16:49:49 GMT -6
Jukka was sprinting at the whale, spear first when a hand shot out, grabbed the spear and stopped him dead in his tracks. He turned to see the same man that had led him to the safe compartment. Just who was he?? Jukka knew there was something up when he saw what he did next - the man simply pulled Ceileuse out of the whale's mouth, and with a flick of the sword the whale vanished. Apparently, it was no big deal to David that he had that power, he simply turned to Jukka and told him to go after Kysho. Well, he hadn't told Jukka to go back, he told "Spear Boy" to go back.
Jukka spat at the ground in frustration - who was this guy to order him around? He obliged anyway - he really did want to chase after that little thief. He laughed quickly at Ceileuse's parting message, and then slid open the door that the thief had ran through. He strapped his large spear onto his back once more, and took out a small throwing spear instead - for a thief, he would need speed. He glanced back one more time, then made his way down the hall.
It didn't take Jukka long to realize that this could take a while. Sure, there was one way to a train, but how many compartments were there to hide in? He opened each compartment door he passed, but found nothing until he was at the caboose of the train. A meteor rocked the last car - Jukka had almost forgotten about the small storm they were passing through. He searched every last compartment and came to the door that led to the deck of the caboose. Kysho wouldn't go out into the storm...would he? There was no window in the door. Jukka took a deep breath and opened the door to the storm.
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Post by Presea Combatir on Dec 5, 2007 16:23:33 GMT -6
Hiding under one of the tables in the compartment, Kysho watched silently as Jukka opened the door to the deck. What an amazingly dumb move, opening that door, the thief thought with a raised eyebrow. Does he really think I was going to be dumb enough to go out there? I'm not freakin' suicidal, man. I'm too amazing and have a life to live lavishly. Right.
He slowly rose to his feet, taking care not to make any noise, and stealthily sneaked behind Jukka. With a single effortless push, Kysho caught him off guard and shoved him outside. "See you later," he chimed in a sing-song voice, giving a short wave as he pulled the door shut behind Jukka. A smirk formed on his face and he stuck his tongue out at no particular person. "That was easy," he muttered, shaking his hands out before dusting them off on his pants.
The brunette was about to leave the room when an idea hit him, and a wide grin began to form on his face. He walked back to the deck and rapped on the door. "Hey, you want out? I'm open to bribery, if you know what I mean."
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Post by Aleu on Dec 6, 2007 22:05:16 GMT -6
Serene flinched slightly at the words; obviously it was not the right thing for Ailyse to say. She swiped away her window-condensation drawing, almost angrily; sweeping her hand over it and swiftly obliterating the small peaks and winding lines. Still facing outwards, she maintained her stony silence, cold water from the window dripping off her hand, her breath making hazy white circles on the glass. Her wings extended slightly to fold around her body as she scooted closer to the side of the car.
A gloomy silence filled the car, and Serene felt a bit of guilt. It wasn't right for her to shut everyone down like this, but... it really did hurt.
The door opened, and David stepped in with Cei close behind. "Sorry about that; we didn't find anyone else. Your buddy here," he said, nodded to Ailyse, "found a whale, though. By accident."
He plopped down into a seat opposite of Ailyse, noting Serene and taking care not to mention anything. The train rattled violently; the meteors seem to have returned in force. Everyone in the compartment grabbed something nearby to keep themselves steady, and Jukka, outside, hung on for dear life.
Through gritted teeth, David asked, "Does anyone have a plan? Are we just going to wait it out in here and hope there aren't any direct -whump!- hits?"
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