Sword & Shield Beta

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Chana sits on the chair underneath the Captain's Pavilion. She can't help but hope that this meeting will explain their new, shiny, running horses that are fantastically used to being around a war. They have been remarkably calm, and Chana is grateful, but suspicious. Her horse is beautiful and solid--very fast. She's tested him on several occasions.

Still..why did they have the entire Unit of Altair train for riding horses? And who were these two, new, tough battlemages that have shown up a few hours earlier with horses of their own, with reassignment papers? Horses this trained and groomed are not common, as well as expensive....so what the hell is going on?

It's a bright day, early morning as the sun is just rising over the tree tops of the forest, making the dark place look beautiful, despite its depressing purpose in this region. The grass is green and alive here, thankfully, on this side of the wall. The trees of the forest are starting to look pretty bad...

At least she's used to being outside, now. Several buildings around the wall's fortification are still being built, so they've had to camp here for the past month as they hold the Kurian's to the forest. Luckily, no Earth Kurian's have shown up, or she'd probably have hated sleeping on the ground. She can still hear the sounds of fighting on the other side of the wall...so much screaming and clashing metal upon metal. A Kurian's roar shakes the pavilon's tent, bringing her attention back to the current situation, where she is left wondering why she is up here, instead of out there, fighting with the other units.

Her head jerks to the side as the two new members that showed up in the night sit at the meeting table. The pavilion sways to the side as the wind swishes through, blowing her hair to the side just as she stares at the strangers with interest. They look noble, to say the least. Great. The Guys'll love having newbies. Though....they sure as hell don't look like newbs.

Isadore watched as the ranged fighters attacked, satisfied with the damage they dealt. The captain then ordered that the melee fighters start fighting, and Isadore glanced at Takato. The two descended the wall and stood on the ground, facing the Kurians.

"All right, we need to stop that one from charging at the wall." Isadore thought for a moment. "Could you get its attention and then run in the opposite direction? You are certainly quick enough to outrun it. Once it gains some momentum, I'll teleport in front of it, facing it with my glaive. It will have no time to react before being impaled."

Mihael beamed as the girl latched onto his arm. He led her down the stairs and started to walk away from the wall with her. "I was afraid you weren't going to want to come with me," he admitted, smiling at her as she touched his hair, "and I wouldn't have blamed you 'cause this is pretty sketchy, but I'm glad you did. And you don't even seem fazed by any of this. That's amazing, you're so brave." He kept walking, wanting to get her as far from the Kurians as he could. However, he didn't want to stray far enough that he'd leave Regulus to fend for himself.

Takato was pleased with how this fight was going; the ranged fighters were doing some damage and Isadore had come up with a solid strategy. He nodded, jumping off the wall with his partner. "Can do, partner." He drew his knife and made like he was charging at the Kurian, grazing its side with the knife. He doubted that would do any damage and was simply trying to direct its attention to him. When it took chase to him, he ran, leading it away from the wall. He was certain that Isadore would be able to handle his part of the attack.

Isadore ran after Takato, though he couldn't move nearly as quickly as him. However, keeping up with his partner wasn't important. All he needed to do was make sure that he would be in range to teleport right in front of the Kurian while still giving himself enough time to prepare his attack.

When the Kurian had gained enough speed, Isadore disappeared and instantly reappeared not too far ahead of the Kurian. He quickly braced the blunt end of his glaive into the ground, angling the bladed end toward the large creature. As he had expected, his sudden change of position caught the Kurian off guard and it was unable to react before ramming itself into his weapon. Isadore held the glaive in position as hard as he could, not giving in to the force of the impact. After the damage had been done, he teleported to the side. Isadore was unsure of how much damage had been done, and he didn't want to risk being crushed if the Kurian collapsed.

The Kurian charges towards them, Chana pulls out her arrows to shoot at it as some of the squad move down there to battle with it. She smirks, "kick its ass!"

She aims carefully, calculating each shot before releasing any further damage, while also ignoring the other Kurian to the best of her ability while making sure it doesn't attack at the same time.

The Kurian seems to charged into Isadore's weapon just after it took damage from the ice lance. It looks pretty pissed and as it is impaled, it turns to face the other Kurian just before it topples to the ground with a massive thud. The final Kurian looks up at them, almost with challenge, but it makes no move to attack as it slowly walks towards the dead Kurian to begin to drag its corpse.

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The girl's shoulders shook, as if she were laughing or giggling. Her grin on her face shows that she seems quite relaxed. She remains clinging to his arm as he speaks, seeming to be quite comforted at his words. She stays with him, nodding her head to show that she's listening but still somewhat looking downward, as if she's afraid to look up for some reason.

Regulus grinned as the Kurian fell to the ground. The group had worked together so well; they had managed to save the girl and take down one Kurian with no injuries whatsoever. When the other Kurian began to drag off the body he knew they had won.

"Good work, everyone!" he called out. "Fall back and don't attack the other one, we don't want to get in over our heads."

He looked over at Chana and wondered what had happened out there. He figured he would have to question her up if she was up to it. There was something about that other Kurian... He also wondered what had become of the two Kurian specialists; the pair seemed to have disappeared when the battle broke out.

Takato grinned as the Kurian fell and his grin only grew wider as the other one began dragging it away. He jogged over to Isadore when Regulus ordered them to fall back. "That wasn't too shabby at all," he said. While the two didn't get along on a personal level, they certainly made a great team.

Mihael smiled as the girl seemed to relax; he was glad she wasn't scared of him. She seemed really nice; he already liked her. "Oh, are you okay?" he asked, noticing that she seemed to be looking down a lot. He glanced over his shoulder in time to see that his teammates had succeeded in defeating the Kurian. "Look, they're gone," he said to the girl. "I guess we should get back over there; they might want to talk to you. Um, don't worry that you can't talk; they're good at communicating. Well, at least Reggie, the captain, is. Demitri is too, actually... anyway, sorry, let's go!"

He led the girl back to the wall and went up the stairs with her, immediately tackle-hugging his partner when he arrived. "You guys did such a great job," he said cheerfully. "The girl's okay; she doesn't seem too rattled by all of this. She's really brave." He then peered over the wall, seeing Takato and Isadore down there. "Whoa, Isa, did you get that thing? That's incredible!"

Demitri continued firing arrows at the charging Kurian, keeping his aim at the beast's head. Soon, the melee fighters jumped in, doing damage to the Kurian. Takato and Isadore came up with an interesting strategy, utilizing the Kurian's momentum as its demise. After the plan went through, the Kurian toppled over, impaled. Demitri kept his aim on the grounded Kurian in case it rose again, but the other Kurian came in to drag it away. Demitri thought it strange, but he let it go. A victory is a victory, after all.

Demitri sighed as he let down his crossbow. All he wanted to do was fall over after all the stress from the battle. Still, Demitri stood as best as he could. He also had to ask Chana a few questions, privately.

Regulus braced himself when he saw Mihael heading toward him; he knew a hug was coming his way. It turned out he was right, though it was a bit more forceful than he expected. He smiled, amused by his bondmate's antics and relieved that the battle went so well.

"It was a good effort, wasn't it?" he agreed. "That's good, I have some questions for her."

Her being mute would be a problem, though. He looked around, trying to think of what to do. His eyes then landed on Demitri. He looked a little tired, but this was important. Regulus approached the other man.

"Demitri, can I ask for your help? The girl we saved is mute, and while she can understand us we can't understand her. Is there any way you can use your magic to help us know what she's thinking?" he asked.

[Collab with Leah]

"Eye-eye, sir." Demitri said before looking to the girl. He then walked over to her and kneeled down in front of her. "Hi there, my name's Demitri." He said with a warm smile.

"I have an ability that will allow the two of us to talk with our minds, so don't be alarmed if you suddenly hear my voice, okay?"

With that, Demitri made a hand gesture where his index and pinky fingers were extended while the rest were curled into his palm. A telepathic bond opened up between himself and the girl and he began his query.

Can you hear me? Demitri asked.

Yes. The girl replied.

Do you have a name?

Sarah.

That's quite a nice name you have. Could you tell me how you got involved with the Kurian?

I woke and it was picking me up. My hunting party was attacked.

Do you know why the Kurian kept you alive?

I don't know. I assume it was going to kill me.

If you tried to escape? It would kill you if you tried to escape?

I didn't try, I was unconscious.

I see. How were you unconscious if you were already awake

I woke when I had magic cast upon me. I was hurt, but the man there healed me. The girl then pointed to Mihael.

Hmm...It must have been Chana's spell that woke you up. Do you remember if anybody else from your party survived?

All are dead.

Well what about your parents? Are they still alive?

My parents are dead. They died a long time ago. I never knew them.

I see...Well I'm sorry for your loss. I think that's enough for today. With that, Demitri closed the bond and gently ruffled Sarah's hair. He then stood to face Regulus.

"Don't worry, Captain. I managed to ask the girl plenty of questions. I'll tell you everything when you're ready. Oh, and by the way, her name is Sarah." Demitri said the last sentence with a bit of a smile.

Regulus watched Demitri go to business. He wondered what it was like, to be able to communicate with your mind. That kind of power would be good for a captain. The silent conversation didn't last long, but it seemed to have gone well.

"All right, thank you. You can tell me later when we're off this wall," Regulus replied. He then looked at the girl. "Sarah, huh? My name is Regulus, and I'm the captain of this group. If you want, I can have arrangements made for you to rest here behind the wall."

As Demitri introduces her by name, Sarah smiles pleasantly, adding a small bow of her head in greeting. When Regulus speaks his name, she smiles more widely as he offers her a place to rest. She then moves to Mihael almost instantly, her arms latching on to one of his. Her face is stern and stubborn, but also with a pleading look in her eyes as her eyebrows raised in question. It is apparent that the girl does not wish to leave him.

Chan steps up, "I'm Chana. You ended up with the right group, Sarah. I'm glad you're okay." She's about to say more, the Sarah tenses, tilting her head up to Mihael to demonstrate distaste and possibly ignoring her speech. Chana shrugs it off, moving back to Demitri and hugging him before they all move down from the wall. She's glad that their watch will be replaced--rotation occurs after a group has had to fight a Kurian.

"Sarah," Mihael repeated so he would remember it. She suddenly latched onto his arm again, which made him smile widely. She was such a nice and friendly person; he liked that. Her countenance seemed to change when Chana spoke to her and she looked at Mihael with what seemed to be an unimpressed expression. He could feel her tensing. "Huh? Don't worry," he said gently, "That's just Chana; she's with us-" It was then he remembered the strange reaction Chana had after swapping places with Sarah; perhaps Sarah's emotions had been affected as well. "You must be exhausted after all this," he said with a warm smile, changing the subject. "And if you're hungry, there's a place serving food behind the wall."

They all moved down from the wall, joining Isadore and Takato. Mihael smiled at them before turning his head toward Sarah. "This is my brother, Isadore," he said, gesturing toward his brother, "and his partner, Takato." He turned back toward the other two. "This is Sarah."

Takato lifted his hand in greeting. "Hey, nice to meet you, Sarah. Glad you're okay now."

Demitri was glad that the girl lightened up up Demitri introduced her to the group. Everyone seemed pleased to meet Sarah, even though she appeared to be interested in Mihael mostly. She even turned her attention away from Chana as she spoke. Demitri wanted to let out a laugh, but the last thing he wanted to deal with was Chana's anger-especially after receiving a delightful hug. Demitri smiled and put his arm around Chana, feeling much more relaxed than earlier.

"Now that our shift is done," Demitri began, facing his mate. "Do you want to get something to eat? I could go for a nice, cooked ham."

Sarah seemed pleased with what Regulus had offered, then immediately reattached herself to Mihael. Regulus figured Mihael liked the girl's attachment to him. Chana then began to talk to Sarah, but she really didn't seem to like Chana, for whatever reason. There'd be time to figure that out later.

As the group moved down from the wall, Regulus heard Mihael telling Sarah about where she could get food. He realized that he hadn't eaten yet today, so he approached the pair.

"Hey Sarah, I'm just heading over to get some food right now. Would you like to join me?" he asked her.

Isadore was pleased overall with how the battle went, though he was a bit disappointed that the other Kurian got away. He hoped the creature would realize the danger of coming so close to the wall and decide not to return. When Mihael praised him, Isadore just glanced at his brother. It wasn't as if he had never killed a Kurian before.

After rejoining the group, Mihael introduced Isadore and Takato to the young girl who was rescued. "It's a pleasure to meet you," Isadore said to Sarah with a small nod.

Sarah smiles to everyone as they greet her, though a bit uncertainly as the Captain offers to take her to eat. She looks to Mihael, whom she does not entirely wish to part from, her blonde hair shining in the sunlight. She looks back to the Captain, considering her options before finally nodding her head in acceptance as she moves from Mihael's arm to Regulus' arm.

She then brings up her hand, flattened with all of her fingers and thumb pressed together. The tips of her longest fingers come to her lips, her palm facing her throat before bringing the hand downwards in front of her torso, the palm now facing the sky.

Her mouth opens with the words "thank you," to show the meaning of the hand gesture. She looks into his eyes, looking for understanding of what she means, the smile rising on her face again.



Chana smirks, pulling on Demitri as they head towards the kitchens. She's amused, as it is almost, but not quite, like a bunch of men fawning over the beautiful lady. However, she knows that's not what's happening...or at least, she doesn't think it s.

"Ham sounds delicious." Chana replies with a charming smile, "I feel like I haven't eaten in ages. Maybe some asparagus on the side."

Mihael smiled at Sarah when she glanced to him, hoping she would want him to join her and Regulus. He'd already eaten, but he would be happy just to sit with them. However, Sarah soon released his arm and went to Regulus instead. He looked slightly saddened by this, but his smile soon returned. "Have fun," he said brightly, moving much closer to his brother instead. He wrapped his arms around Isadore's waist, leaning his head to his brother's shoulder. "What do we do now?" he asked, assuming Isadore would know if there was anything they were supposed to do.

Takato had already started heading off after Chana and Demitri. He wasn't going to the kitchens, as he'd already eaten. He was planning on scoping out the area. Being late hadn't afforded him the chance to do so. With any luck, he'd find some eye candy to scope out while he was at it. He was still riding the high from a great performance and if his partner had any nitpicking to do about it, he didn't want to hear it.

Demitri made an ill face when Chana mentioned asparagus. "I hope you don't intend on having both of us eating asparagus. As much as I like plants, I can't bear to eat asparagus as food!"

He thought back to the day when he first tried asparagus. He could understand the food having medical uses, but it tasted so awful. Demitri had the mindset of never trying asparagus ever again. Demitri zoned out for a little as he reminisced over that day in his life. He was still with Chana, physically, but mentally, he was phasing in and out.

Demitri thought about the way he reacted to tasting the asparagus. He spewed out the chewed up food with his tongue hanging out. The taste still lingered in Demitri's mouth as he desperately looked for something else to eat or drink. Demitri came back to reality when he neared the kitchen. With the taste of asparagus coming back, Demitri was itching to eat something.

Regulus could tell that Mihael was disappointed when Sarah decided to go with him, but he was sure he'd get over it. He then watched as Sarah did some kind of hand movement and mouthed some words. He tilted his head to the side, unsure of what she was saying at first, but it soon dawned on him.

"You're welcome," he replied, returning her smile.

He led the girl off to the kitchens and found Chana and Demitri were there. He looked down at the girl, wondering if she would get upset over Chana being there again. However, they had to get some food so she'd have to live with it.

"Hey guys," he said to the pair. "What are you getting good?"

Isadore watched the others leave, wondering what that strange girl was all about. He decided to think back to the battle instead, but his thoughts were interrupted when he felt his brother grab him. Isadore turned sharply and pulled Mihael's arms away before giving him a push. "Mihael," he began, trying to sound more pleasant than his actions had been. "We are going to train now. Come with me."

Isadore led Mihael to a nearby open space outside and readied his glaive. "Now, try to attack me."

Having grown accustomed to his brother's prickly nature, Mihael was unfazed when Isadore pushed him. He nodded when his brother told him that they were going to train. "It's kind of odd to train right after fighting, but I guess that's why you're so good in battle, right?" he said, hurrying after his brother.

Once they reached the open field, Mihael drew his staff. He nodded at Isadore's instructions and eyed his target. "Here I come!" he announced. He charged toward his brother, swinging his staff as he drew near.

The girl followed the Captain into the kitchens, finding themselves just shortly behind Chana and Demitri. She smiles at them politely as the Captain asks about what they'll be getting to eat. She remains clinging to his arm, as Chana replies dryly.

"Steak. Asparagus for me. Lots of asparagus." Chana says, though her eyes seem to be wondering off into another section, "Though, I bet the steak in that there Captain's section is far juicier than the one I'll be getting."

The girl's shoulders shake, as if she's laughing, a large smile on her face. Chana looks at her, an eyebrow raised as her arms cross. "What you laughin' at? You can't have the good stuff, either. You're a civilian."

The girl then shakes her head a this last. Disagreement on her face. Chana is confused. Does she say she is going to get the good food? Or is she implying that she isn't a civilian? There isn't an armband, so there actually is no way to tell what class she is.

"What are you saying no to?" Chana says, at least grateful that the girl doesn't seem to hate her now. "The food part? Or the civilian part?"

The woman holds up her hand, forming her hand as if she were holding a cup parallel to the ground, making the letter "c." C for Civilian, maybe?

"So...civilian. You're not a civilian." Chana says uncertainly as the lines move up. She steps up to the food counter just after Sara nods with confirmation. Chana turns to grab food, an expression of intrigue on her face. "Well, we'll talk about this more when we get to the table." Chana says lastly without looking, as her eyes are on the food. So...she's in the military, then? What class is she? And what Unit was she with that died?

"Ham and sweet bread for me." Demitri replied to Regulus's query. "And what about you?" He asked. While waiting in line, Demitri passively watched the exchange between Chana and Sara. If he wasn't so drained at the moment, he could maybe use his magic to help Chana understand what Sara wanted to say. Demitri found Sara's response to Chana's question somewhat cute, but he was interested in the deeper meaning behind it. He did remember Sara telling him her hunting party was attacked.

Demitri looked at Chana, wondering if he should tell her what he knew, but he wasn't sure how sensitive the information was or whether he could tell anyone what Sara told him. Also, Chana didn't really need to know what Demitri learned for the moment. He would sort out what to do after he spoke with Regulus, and after he finished his meal.

"I haven't decided yet," Regulus replied to Demitri.

He then watched as Chana and Sarah had an interesting discussion; it appeared Sarah was trying to say she wasn't a civilian. He began to really wish he had a way to talk to the girl directly whenever he needed.

Soon he got his food, he had decided on steak and mixed vegetables. He then waited for Sarah before heading to the table with Chana and Demitri.