What is society?

[Vega]

2nd Trial of Ashan during Arc 720

Society is a madhouse whose Wardens are the officials.
~~ August Strindberg ~~

"Alright, an' that makes sense," said Vega, still newly-appointed Justicar of the Lightning Knights but old-hat at argumentative. "I'll go along an' help out an' report back, but," she looked at Jack, her senior officer who she had previously dubbed Jack because he was an ass, and her gaze was as unapologetic as ever. "Have you tried jus' askin' them? An', come to that you should know that I'm one. Look." A small creature appeared, flitting around "I am Snuffle!!!" Vega shot Jack a rather apologetic glance. "This is Snuffle. She's my companion, since I got made a Warden," as Vega said that, Snuffle breathed bubbles. "I am protecting her - I protect Eva!!!"

Vega sighed as Jack grinned slightly. "If you laugh at her, I'll punch you," she said and he raised an eyebrow. "You need to remember that I'm your senior officer," he reminded her and Vega shrugged. "You won't be when you've got to retire cos I've punched your face in, will you?" Jack shook his head and motioned for Vega to get on.

"Alrigh', so I'm on with the Wardens, an' I'm helpin' out an' they know I'm a Justicar now, an' that I'm one o'them." Vega grinned at Jack. He looked half-fond, half-exasperated, but he waved her off and gave a slight smile. She was a foul tempered and cantankerous woman, there was no doubting it, but Jack and Vega had bonded in battle and he felt that she would do her best and get in there.

Then, she made her way out, to meet with the other Wardens. There were a group of four of them, one of whom Vega had met. She looked around at them and nodded. "Wotcha," she said, quietly and they nodded. Vega turned to Gil, the man she knew and she asked. "What're we doin' then?" Gil looked at her and gestured out. "We're going to scout the stormwastes in the hope of keeping this place safe. Hopefully we'll be able to do a spot of hunting while we're there, too. " Vega nodded and shouldered her backpack. "Righteo. Well, I'm here to help out, in whatever way I can." Gil nodded to her and then gestured that she should continue.

"I'm new to the Wardens, an' I'm a Justicar Wayfarer," she said and grinned slightly. "I'm married, an' I'm marked by Xiur an' Qylios an' Daia. I hit things, an' I play the fiddle." It stood to reason that she was basic in her description - Vega felt that she had given the basic information needed. The others looked at her and Gil raised an eyebrow. "That's quite the list. Will you be playing to keep our morale up?"

Vega grinned a wide, slightly toothy grin, "That's the plan, Gil my old mukka, that's the plan."

[Vivian Shiryu]

One of the wardens laughed slightly at Vega's list of skills. "Well, you're talented. All them Blessings, though, how didn't you get recruited earlier?" he asked, his tone amused. Then he gave a smirky grin and looked Vega over. "You're husbands a lucky man, though." he said, earning him a scowl from Gil as the other Warden stepped forward. Then he looked up as a low growl sounded from behind the offensive Warden. The offending fellow turned to see Vivian standing behind him
with Raio, her big Zephyrus letting out a low growl. The offensive fellow backed up and Vivian frowned.

"No, don't stop on my account. Go on, see how much more of your foot you can fit in your mouth." Vivian said, the electric crackle of her armor giving a slight punctuation to her tone. The Warden paled some, then grinned slightly. "N-no offense meant, miss. Just blowing off some tension." he said, and Vivian snorted. "Up to you, Vega." she said, looking at her sister. Once Vega had settled things with idiot, Vivian looked at Gil. "Going out into the Stormwastes?" she asked, and Gil nodded. "I'll join you, then. If you're taking horses, Raio and I will ride a bit apart, so he doesn't spook your mounts." she said, getting a somewhat surprised reaction from the assembled Wardens.

Vivian wasn't hugely surprised by the reaction, she had been acting as the temporary base commander for Storms Watch while they waited for reinforcements. "I went scouting not long after I arrived, and I set up a Font of Life next to a rock formation. I was looking to set up a waypoint for scouting parties, and I'd like to check and see how it's coming along. If it got destroyed, that tells us they're actively working to prevent us from making any progress into the Stormwastes." she said, her tone calm. "Plus if I don't get out of that office soon, I'm going to start making dioramas out of the paperwork." she said, giving a slight grin at that admission. Fins popped up at that and grinned at the group. "Plus she's worried about you lot going off into Stormwastes." the little shark dog said, grinning at the group.

[Vega]

2nd Trial of Ashan during Arc 720

Society is a madhouse whose Wardens are the officials.
~~ August Strindberg ~~

"What?" She looked at the guy who leered at her and Vega shook her head. "Are you a professional idiot, or did you decide to remain an amateur? Cos you know, you've got a brigh' future, an' then some." There was a reaction from a few others, which Vega neither noticed or cared about, and then the guy stuttered an apology. Vega shook her head and grinned slightly. "It's a'right. You embarrassed yerself an' I had a laugh at your expense. I reckon that's fair enough, don't you?" Vivian rocked up, then, and Vega grinned. "Wotcha," she said to the woman who was, apparently, her sibling. Vega found it all very odd, this sibling malarkey, but she'd come to the conclusion that mostly, she was ignoring it and judging people on who they were. Thus far, she liked both Vivian and Varlum pretty well.

"Bloody hell," she said, motioning to Vivian's Zephyrus. "That's a big fish." She grinned, obviously teasing and they started to move out. As they did, Vega climbed on to Storm, her black horse, and she held on and kept balance with her legs as she lifted her fiddle to her chin.

She began to play a piece that was hopeful, optimistic, upbeat. It was feel-good music and Vega was very aware of that. Snuffle, her Diri, started swooping around and she let out a squeal here and a squeak there. "I love musics!!!" The little creatures declaration caught Vega by surprise, but she simply grinned and carried on playing. The horses moved in time to the music and there was a general feeling of camaraderie. To Fins, Vega shot a grin, "She were only worried that she was gonna miss out on fun stuff, I'm sure." But making their way to where Vivian had made a Font of Life seemed like a mighty fine idea to Vega and so she nodded her head in acceptance. "Sounds like a plan to me. Maybe there'll be other clues, who knows?"

Vega was a skilled huntress, she and Arlo had often survived entirely on their wits in the wilderness, and one of the first things he had done was teach her to hunt and track. She frowned as she looked at the ground - they were coming close to where Vivian was leading them, though Vega didn't know that. "There's a heap of tracks here what jus' don't look right," she said. Stopping, she got off her horse to look. She examined them and then got up. "The feet an' paws don't look righ', like they're mutated, but more'n that. Animals bein' together what just wouldn't be, you know?"

Vega cast her mind back to a time, it seemed like a lifetime ago. "When I were in Desnind, Arlo an' I killed this thing called a Spurmalurma.... a Spurmawurma.... oh, I don't remember, but it were a big mutated dog-thing with far too many teeth an' poor oral hygiene. Anyhow, I'd been findin' out about them from the librarian there, an' when the females are pregnant, their ... is it arm an' knee optic? You know, the fluid what babies live in? Anyhow, yeah, their arm knee optic fluid causes mutations an' all sorts. I wonder if this is... like, somethin' sim'lar?"

Science, it seemed, was not Vega's strong point. She looked at Vivian and shrugged. "Anyone else been to Desnind an' got a trickle or a tickle of an idea of what the pogging heck I'm talkin' about?" she sighed slightly. "I wish Arlo was here. He can translate." She thought about it and then added, honestly. "Usually."

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian smiled at Vega's greeting, before grinning at her reaction to Raio. The big Zephyrus, with that weird sense cats seemed to have, knew when he was being noticed and let out a purr that sounded like a passing thunderstorm and managed to pose himself in such a way that he looked like he didn't care at all for the silly Mortals, yet was very clearly telling them all to admire him. Vivian looked at her cat with an amused expression. "Yeah, he is, but he's more vain than a teenager on their first date." she said, shaking her head. Raio, of course, ignored her and continued to allow the Wardens to admire him.

Vivian, as she had said, rode a bit apart from the other Wardens so Raio didn't spook the horses too much, though not so far away as to be unfriendly. The big cat was clearly enjoying being with the others and let out another purr as Vega started playing. "I agree, Raio, she's very good with that fiddle." she said, as Fins bounced looked over at Snuffle from where he was sitting, which was in between Raio's shoulder blades, though the big cat paid the little shark dog no mind. "It's nice to have something to listen too on these rides for once. Vivian doesn't talk much when she's scouting." Fins said, his tone cheerful.

When Vega called for the group to stop, Vivian dismounted and went to look at the tracks Vega had found. She wasn't a tracker and couldn't make sense of them, but she puzzled through what Vega was saying, getting tripped up as Vega couldn't quite get the words she was looking for to explain. After a moments thought, Vivian looked up. "Never been to Desnind, everything I've heard makes the place sound like fire trap. But you're talking about either mutated babies or adults mutated by baby juice, yeah?" she asked, her tone thoughtful.

Once they had gotten as far as they could with the track, Vivian looked up. "We're close to where I set up that Font of Life. Let's head there, whatever made these tracks may have been headed that way. Ilaren knows water sources aren't the most common things out in the Storm Wastes." she said, before remounting Raio and leading the way to a nearby rock formation. When they got there, she let out a small sigh of relief when she saw it was still intact, things were even starting to grow and the pool she had made when she had first visited was still there and uncontaminated. "Oh, excellent. It's still here." she said, leading the group into the little oasis.

When she dismounted Raio, however, there was a clang of metal on metal when she set her foot down. Looking down in surprise, lifted her foot and started digging the dirt away from where she had been standing. After about a bit, she paused and stared in disbelief at the chunk of solid, blood red metal that she had just unearthed. "That's not possible." she said, still staring dumbstruck at the metal.

[Vega]

2nd Trial of Ashan during Arc 720

Society is a madhouse whose Wardens are the officials.
~~ August Strindberg ~~

Vega was a strangely superstitious sort ~ she was certainly prone to odd ideas and strange notions. Sometimes, she held beliefs which were so left-of-center that they could only be called "way out there". Yet, she hated superstitions, and she'd thump anyone who even suggested she held one. A conundrum, there was no doubting it. At the moment, with Arlo not being here, she was also extra grouchy. As such, the mutant-looking, just-not-right tracks unnerved her. "These are givin' me the heebies," Vega said softly to Vivian. Swirling eyes regarded the woman - a fellow Knight and fellow Warden- Vega felt a connection to Vivian more from these things than from the fact that they were both Faldrun's daughter. But, there was no doubting it. The footprints unnerved her. The fact that they were wrong on so many levels was something which they'd have to report back, she knew. People with bigger brains than her would work that out, she was sure. Or it wouldn't get worked out.

The tracks stopped, not least because they were getting to areas where there was a lot of rock, but Vega didn't think it was that. "I'd still see them," she asserted. "Tracks are harder to see on rocky ground, but I still can." There was no part of Vega which had any notion of false modesty. It simply was not something she was capable of. So, she added 'the tracks disappear' to one of the very many reasons she had for her feeling of unease or - as she called it - the heebies.

Once she'd fully exhausted any possibility of finding the tracks, they made their way back to the animals with the aim of finding out how things were at the Brightfleam Oasis Vivian had made. Even as they made their way, though, Vega kept looking out for where the tracks might pick back up, but there was no sign. "I reckon they might travel underground, you know," she said. It was the only thing which made sense and explained everything they'd discovered. She frowned as she said it, though, "But it's more'n that, too. I can't always see where they popped up from. Slippery little things, pumpernickels."

"What's that now?" Vega asked, as Vivian started to dig. Then, she moved over and looked down. "Right, so there's metal in the earth an' it's red. That's not rust, is it?"

Looking at Vivian, Vega raised one eyebrow. "What's jiggin' on, then?" There was no doubt that this was more significant to Vega than simply "well that's weird" - and so she waited for her companion to explain. Except. "Whatever it is, it's got the horses well spooked," she said. "Storm's got the jeebies, too."

[Vivian Shiryu]

When Vega said the tracks were weirding her out, Vivian nodded. "They aren't exactly doing good things for my own nerves either." she said, her tone grim. Then, when they got to the rocky area and Vega explained what was going on with the tracks, Vivian shook her head. "So, do you think they can fly, teleport, or burrow? Either way, not good news for us." she said, frowning. When they got to the Oasis and Vega explained her thought process regarding the Mysterynickels, Vivian nodded. "Slippery isn't the only problem. I think there's some intelligence behind the pumpernickels. Not just in how they move, but in how they're built. They aren't exactly natural creatures, they're...I think they're like weapons, except they move about on their own. Not exactly comforting." she mused.

When she dug up the red ore and Vega asked what was so special about the metal. Before she could answer, Vega pointed out the horses were acting up. Raio was acting strange too, but not in the same way, he was trying to lick the metal and seemed disappointed by it. Vivian looked around to make sure the rest of the Wardens were focused on their mounts, then spoke, keeping her voice low. "You remember when we met up at the bar? After Arlo and I got our memories back following Cassion's Gambit and we realized we'd met before that little adventure with Vyrelle? I showed you and Arlo that I had metal blood." she said, before looking down at the metal she had unearthed.

"So far as I'm aware, I was the only source of that metal. My blood hardens to a steel if it cools outside my body, and doing that is the only time I've ever seen the metal form, barring that it appears to be what my sword is made out of as well." she said, before gesturing down at the ore deposit. "But this is the exact same stuff. This is my blood, growing out of the ground. That shouldn't be possible, it's just a Font of Life." she said, before she paused as something occurred to her. "Oh. Well, actually, it being a Font of Life could be why, now I think about it. To make a Font of Life, the Warden has to add a drop of their own blood to a Brightgleam Oasis. Because my blood is literally a liquid metal, it appears that in addition to plantlife and such, it creates these...bloodsteel deposits." she said, her tone thoughtful.

Then she stood up and gestured to the rest of the Wardens. "Everyone, get your horses away from any of the ore deposits. My blood has some...special qualities that I think resulted in the ore. Close to the water itself should have less of it. If anyone has a pick-axe or something, I'd like to take some of this ore back with us, see if it's got any special properties. I can carry it on Raio, since it doesn't spook him much." she said, as the big cat started licking the ore again. Then she looked at Vega. "Well, the Font of Life is still here. Horses may not like it much, but I'll talk to the stablemaster when we get back, see if he has a way to help with that. You want to keep looking for tracks, or should we head back?" she asked the redhead.

[Pig Boy]

Player Name: Vega

Points awarded: 15
Magic xp: none

Knowledge: None requested

Renown: 5 for leading a patrol.

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Player Name: Vivian

Points awarded: 15
Magic xp: none

Knowledge:

Mining x 4
Mount x 4

Renown: 5 for leading a patrol.

Skill Review: All Skills used appropriately to PC's level

Notes: I can't help but smile at Vega's antics and vegaisms. She's such a good drill-sergeant type, biting back at the sarcastic lout among the wardens. I loved the line where she asked him if he was an professional or if he stayed an amateur, because he definitely had a future. Vega is great at those kinds of dressing downs, without completely obliterating the person in question.

Vivian was a fun presence in this thread as well, and plays a good 'straight-woman' to Vega's rustic humor. I'm pretty interested in the effects that her steel blood has on the oases, that it causes blood iron deposits to form. That might be interesting thing to note later, if she ever gets to splashing more of those warden puddles about the Stormwastes.

The two of them make a good team, and it's not too too often I get to see them together in a thread, so I relish the chance when I get it.

I also chuckled at Vega's attempt to pronounce amniotic fluid. Vivian was funny too, referring to it as baby juice. Fun times!

Good writing both!

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding this review, feel free to PM. Enjoy your rewards!