eachdraidh | [audio only; open]

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[No video, not yet. Too incoherently angry, and it's clear in his voice.]

I don't know whose idea of a fucking joke this is, but thanks for pulling me out of a gladiatorial death match so I can fight in some foreign war. I'm sure Mogré-Ür will think this is a hoot when I get back. If I get back.

[he feigns an apologetic voice] Sorry, sorcerer sir. The kid died or got turned in a Troll WMD because some fairies needed me in another dimension for a while. You know how it is.

[a pause and some unintelligible grumbling]

Crow, this blows. I was just starting to like that kid, too...

So, I hope whoever's listening is paying a pretty penny for this inconvenience. I don't do this stuff for free. Never have and never will.

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[Zhaneel flicks her ears forward in the feed, head tilting to one side.]

You can find those that will hire you... and the Kings and Queens will grant boons on occasion. But, I regret to say, I do not believe you can expect to be paid merely for being brought here.

[Sorry, Lusipher.]

[Okay, you get video now because... is that a gryphon? That's a gryphon. His anger is diverted slightly by the sight of something he's heard about but never seen before]

Oh, I'll earn my keep. Don't worry your feathery little head about that.

[One long ear twitches, and the elf narrows his eyes suspiciously]

So what's your story?

[Anger diverted is a good thing, so Zhaneel will take this small success and run with it.

She studies Lusipher, head tilting slightly to one side as her ear tufts flick back and forward again.]

Of that, I do not doubt. [There is no mockery or sarcasm in her tone, not any hint of snideness. No, when she looks at Lusipher it is perfectly apparent that here is someone that can handle himself and that will do what needs to be done. Anyone that misses that upon sight isn't paying all that much attention.

She flicks an ear tuft back and then toward him again, settling back onto her haunches with a rustle of feathers.]

My story? There isn't much to tell of my story... My world, like many others, is wracked with war; my kind were created to help fight alongside one of the Mages, Urtho. [Zhaneel shrugs her wings slightly, looking away. She didn't like to get into the more minute details of her own personal life, as they were not a pleasant recollection. A life filled with physical and emotional abuse that she was only just beginning to work her way through.

She turns her gaze back to the locket.]

I was brought here, and another of my Wing some months before my arrival. [There is a trace of guilt in her tone as she continues.] And it has been... different here, but good. [At least for her.] Though it is not the goal or aim of all, I have been fortunate enough to avoid the power struggle while still defending those and that which I care for.

[That curious head tilt again, a measured gaze before inner lids flick across her eyes.]

And you? What is your story?

[That was a much more thorough story than he was expecting. He'd have been fine with simply being told to "piss off", but the more the gryphon talks, the longer Lusiphur gets to watch her and try to figure her out. Crow, he wishes Jace were here to see this.

...although now he has a little better understanding of all those assholes who had never seen an Elf before. His face twists into a frown, which he plays off as part of the answer to her question.]

Nothing much to my story either. Just an elf who's down on his luck. Plucked out of his dimension while in the middle of doing a job for a powerful sorcerer. I'm sure my employer's going to be really happy once he finds that out. That's the kind of thing that gets people killed.

[Zhaneel has grown increasingly used to such scrutiny since arriving in the Drabwurld; there are not large numbers of her kith and kin out and about, so she's become the subject of much curiosity.

While she speaks, she in turn studies Lusiphur. He is an elf, though he appears different than any of the others she has already met. Of more than that she refuses to yet make any presumptions, knowing not even his name thus far.

She makes a sound low in her throat, ears flicking back.]

Unfortunately, the Monarchs here do not seem to have any care for the details of our departures or what we've left behind in our worlds... their concern lies within their our world and people. [She shakes her head slightly, tail tip flicking back and forth like an agitated cat.] We are a means to an end... Always a means to an end. [Urtho had used her kind for his own means; why should it surprise her that it would happen here as well?

Her ear tufts flick forward again and she thrums low in her chest.]

Fortunate to be away from him and yet not so... [She raises a feathered brow slightly, feathers rustling as she adjusts her wings.] Is it something you would be sought for repayment here should your sorcerer arrive?

[scoff] If Mogre'Ur arrives here, I'd be more worried about what he'll do to the High-Kings and Queens. I would not want to be standing in his way. Or even on the same side of the continent thankyouverymuch.

[Lusiphur will never admit that he's worried about what will happen to the kid they were supposed to be ~~babysitting~~ bodyguarding. His expression just gets more annoyed rather than upset. There's nothing to repay if the kid wound up dead.]

So you got a name? [if she just answers "yes", Lusiphur thinks he may have to reconsider this conversation]

[The pair had quite a bit to talk about if it ever came up... Zhaneel was slowly building up an army of abandoned/orphaned and otherwise just 'in need' children to keep an eye on.

Her ears pin back and she grinds her beak lightly at the similarities.]

Your Mogre'Ur sounds like a Mage named Ma'ar from my own world. [She makes no attempt to hide the change in her tone. To not show fear before Ma'ar was idiotic at best and a death sentence at worst. She had seen the remains of gryphon's he and his men had captured and tortured for both information and for the pleasure of sending back personalized messages. Yes, Ma'ar scared her.] I would not wish him upon any I've ever crossed or have yet to.

[A change in subject is not something Zhaneel argues, nor acts coyly about. She nods her beak once, shaking tension from her shoulders before resettling her wings again.]

I am Zhaneel. [She inclines her head in greeting.] Well met...?

Crow, I'd really enjoy pointing big bad wizard daddy at the monarchy if I thought for a second it would do a damn bit of good more than just some really impressive carnage.

[Lusiphur is still scared of the power that the sorcerer possessed, though not nearly as much once they were on more-or-less the same side] But, as a rule, I didn't trust 'em. Wizards, sorcerers, mages, the whole lot of them. The fact that I was working for one was merely a bid to keep myself breathing. And it worked.

[What would make this whole thing a little more tolerable would be a cigarette. But when Lusiphur pats himself down, he comes up with nothing. He's going to have to find a way to remedy this and pronto.]

I don't get this whole "well met" thing. The circumstances to us being here pretty much eats crow, and there's nothing "well" about it.

[and no Jace around to force him to be polite] But yeah, okay. My name's Lusiphur.

[There was a time when Zhaneel might have argued about the 'good' sides of magic users, but she wasn't as naive as she'd been even a few months ago. There were those that she trusted that were adept at magic, and she was learning it herself in order to protect and defend her friends, but there were many that would abuse the gifts at first chance.]

We all must do what we must do to survive, and many times what we must do isn't what we'd like to be doing. There are times when it's best to align oneself with those of a nature unlike our own, because it is what will bring us waking into the new day... [Again, a small shrug of her shoulders and wings.] I can only do small magics, especially when compared to many others here in the Drabwurld, and my abilities are almost comical in comparison.

[She then arches a brow again, but rather than taking any offense she chortles softly in amusement and inclines her head in acknowledgment.]

I'll grant you that mayhap it is not the best of circumstances, but it could certainly be worse, hmm? [You could have arrived in the middle of a fire fight instead of a feast, Luse.

As he gives his name, she nods again.] Lusiphur. [A curious tilt of her head, then.] And which Court sought you out, Lusiphur? [She had her guess, but she'd let him affirm or deny at his pleasure.]

[In his own world, Elves are one of the Fay races, and Lusiphur had been called a fairy more times in his young life than he could count... but crow he hates real fairies for exactly this reason. Fucking fairies and their sneaky political bullshit. They're worse than the High Elves on the Steps.

To all of this, he just sort of grumbles discontentedly, armed crossed over his chest. He really hates having to play at their game, but once he figures it out, he's going to be the best at it.]

The Unseelie requested the honor of my company with what felt like a bat the back of the head.

Does the complaining make you feel better? Because it sounds a right bore to the rest of us.

[Oh Loras, always so pleasant.]

It does. Yes. [his voice through clenched teeth.]

And it would make me feel better faster to punch you in that smug mouth of yours unless you have something helpful to add.

I'd love to see you try, actually. I haven't had a good fight since I arrived. Though I doubt you'd manage it.

[A challenge?! Oh, you are so lucky you're not within striking distance, pretty boy.]

Name the time and the place, and I will give you the best fight of your life. I hope you have good dental insurance.

Edited 2014-12-11 03:33 (UTC)

...I truly doubt that--and I am sure I will not need whatever 'insurance' is.

[he has a bandana tied on his head now to obscure his Elf ears, but this is the face of a rogue ~~not a knight like you~~ who is not used to losing fights. His teeth are clenched and his expression is a mix of anger and mild amusement]

Only one way to find out.

Well, we'll have to wait until the hunt is over.

[Because he's currently a rabbit.]

Fine.

[please never tell him that]

So what's the big deal with this hunt, anyway? Is that just what you guys do for fun around here?

Well I've only newly arrived, so I don't know how common this is. But there is a prize for slaying the Hart, so it is said. Besides, I happen to like hunting.

[You said "prize". This appeals to him more than trying to break your nose.]

...what kind of prize?

I have no bloody idea.

[Since he won't be getting it.]

So you're one of those. Just in for the bloody kill then?

At least if it was prize money, it could get spent on something more tangible and worthwhile.

I happen to like hunting, and going out with friends. I'm not some mercenary who cares only for coin.

I am. And I do my job well. There's something to be said about "caring only for coin." It keeps ale in my glass and food on my plate.

I earn both those things without having to work for coin. [Being born into it helps.]

Well, weren't you born lucky? Either you must be rich or you've got friends who are. The rest of us have to slum it to get a decent meal more than once a week. Coin means more when you don't have much.

Isn't really my problem that you aren't nobility. I care little for the issues of smallfolk.

[He just pretends to most of the time.]

"Smallfolk." See, now I'm back in the mood to break your nose.

Which is something, again, you can't do.

Only because of the distance between us, rich boy. Just wait.

Where are you? You sound like the moon's singing in your veins.

Where? Near someplace called Caer Scima that looks like my ex wife's been loaning out her decorator, but it's all just weird foreign landscape to me.

What does the moon have to do with anything?

Oh. You're Unseelie. Well... We can still hunt together if you wanna direct all that anger and restlessness at something.

And I'm a werewolf, so the full moon tends to make me like you're being.

You're awfully confident to just admit that you're a werewolf like that. Where I'm from, not everyone likes that kind of thing on account of the fact that livestock and villagers get mauled to death on the night of a full moon. One nearly took my damn arm off.

[He was a werewolf hunter for about a week once, but the work didn't agree with him so he quit. He didn't actually care about people dying to the beast unless he was getting paid to stop it. And here he wasn't. So he didn't actually care what she was. It was merely an observation.]

You're right though. I am in the mood to take someone's arm off.

Those kind of werewolves should be killed. If they can't control their wolf, they're a danger to everyone, including other werewolves. The Marrock has a law where I'm from to make that kind of thing rare. I was fine on the full moon and didn't hurt no one.

[Awkward teenage pause.] So... I'm Kara.

A law to not kill people even if you're a werewolf. That's handy.

[he grumps a little]

Name's Lusiphur. What are things like on the Seelie side?

It's not that, um, we can't kill humans it's just that wild rogue killing isn't allowed. We're predators... Violence is kinda in our being unless you're a submissive. But submissive wolves are kinda rare. But mostly the humans that die are the ones that deserve it or are too stupid to walk away when they should.

You're not, like, the Lucifer are you? [Unfortunately, she can't see that he's an elf and not, say, a demon.] Fire, brimstone, Lord of Hell and all that church stuff...

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