Terra Chapter Two: Times and Men Long Forgotten
 

Minutes ticked by slowly, and time seemed to drag on forever. The queen left the room for a few minutes and came back with a pitcher of water and a few rags, which she used to tend to the woman beyond the veil of sheer curtains, but that was the only distraction alotted to Zephyr. The guards did not speak, and the queen, presuming him to be a criminal from the way the guards acted with him, dared not enter into conversation with him either. Slightly over a half hour had ticked by on the large clock before the King returned.

Both of the guards saluted and bowed, being met by a raised eyebrow from the obviously exhausted monarch.

"Your Majesty, this man sold the explosives to the terrorist who attempted to assassinate the royal family and our honored guests," one of the guards said in answer to the king's unanswered question.

(OOC: JAD, message me on AIM tomorrow and we'll do the rest of the interrogation. I've decided that I don't feel like giving any clues to the true nature of things you may receive here away... and I think that's about it that I can do right now--IC, when you get to the guard house you can RP the guard's letting you in.)

Here we go.
 

OOC: Ok, let see how this works. I'm trying to find the style for this character. Tell me what you think.


After leaving the rubble of his home Palimont began to wander the streets of Kalidan. His wandering took him into a very bad part of the city unfortunately.

"Cold." He thought to himself "Cold and sad." A man in a heavy brown coat looked at the large creature from his hiding spot in an alley grabbing hold of his knife he looked ready to spring but then thought better of it and moved deeper into the shadows. "No go, go bad..." he mumbled to himself. "Nice woman go. I be big sad. Sad and mean!" He Growled the last part slamming one fist into the other. The resounding slap it made echoed in the mostly empty streets. He clenched his fists causing his muscles to bulge. He wanted to 'be mean and attack' but he also didn't want to make 'who that be nice be dead.'

After several minutes of wrestling with his emotions. Debating between "be good" or "be bad" began to tire him. "Be bad" was starting to win.

His face turned into that of an angry beast as he walked down the street. Keeping any traffic well away from him. That is until he met with some town guards. The two took one look at him and the expression on his face and knew what they had to do. They moved in front of him and took up defensive positions. The first one shouted "Halt! State your business!"

Palimont had no idea what they were saying. But he did recognize the clothes. He remembered 'Nice woman' telling him 'No attack, good men.' She told him it every time they saw people dressed like that. So he stopped. He gave them a very confused look as he tried to understand what they were saying.

The two guards looked at each other. It was then the lead of the two remembered that Ligers were exceptionally stupid. The first guard explained to his Friend. "He's one of those Ligers. Big brutes with muscles like an ox. They're stupid as rocks though."

All Palimont could understand was "Blah one of blah blah. Big blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah Stupid blah rock blah." His expression became more puzzled as he tried to connect what the 'one' was that was 'big' 'stupid' and 'rock'. When he saw the man point at him and laugh he understood it a little.

"No stupid!" He said loudly, growling. "No stupid!" He said again. He had been called stupid enough to know when someone said the word and pointed at him. It was him they meant. The guards raised there weapons at Palimont.

"Hold it you big brute!" The man said. "You stay right there. You take one swing at us and we'll give you the kind of punishment you should have gotten as a whelp!"

Palimont got the words he needed out of that one. 'Hold it you big...you stay..you...one....us and...you...of punish.' At punish he stopped growling and started looking scared. "No punish." He said. Then Looking as submissive as a giant cat like face can allow, "I be good."

"Come with us and 'no punish'." The guard said once he was sure the brute was under control. Taking up positions in front of and behind the large liger they began to lead him to a guard house to see if anyone had "lost their pet."

From a bit down the road, Cerrave Tarre stopped his pondering what he was going to do about needing extra brawn for the undertaking about to take place. He heard some loud growling and angry sounding voices and looked up to see a Liger being harrassed by some guards.

This sort of thing always seems to happen just when you need it to...

Quickly, just as the Liger began looking scared and it seemed as if he was being arrested, Cerrave Tarre, dropping his guise of Red Scarlett, ran up to the guards.

"Oh thank you! I've been looking all over for him!"

He winked at the Liger, hoping he would understand to play along. Nevertheless, he spoke quickly to avoid having the brute speak and thus ruin the plan.

"You see, this Liger is my pet. I told him to stay put while I went in the shop and buy some supplies, but you know. They NEVER listen. Really, I should have known better. So, I hope this will be enough compensation."

He slipped each of the guards a silver coin and grabbed the Liger by the arm.

"Come along now. We don't want you getting in any more trouble, now do we?" He quickly pulled the beast back towards the city gates, hoping to speak with the Liger outside the city walls.

Palimont got confused when the fox man grabbed his arm. The wink just doubled his confusion. But the mans tone didn't seem angry. He understood very little of what the fox man said, as he spoke far to quickly. When he started getting pulled away from the guards he got worried though. 'Come' was clear when combined with the pulling motion however. "I no be bad. I good." He told the fox man as he followed him "You no punish I?" He asked, seeming rather confused that the 'good men' were now letting him walk away with someone else.

Cerrave stopped and smiled at the Liger.

"No punishment for you, my friend. I am a good guy. I saved you. Would you like to be my friend?"

By this time, they were standing just outside the city gates, and Cerrave pulled the Liger with him as he stood in a secluded shadow outside the city walls.

Azrel stood against the wall, ignoring the group of people in the bar almost in its entirety. His eyes and mind were focused mostly on a thin book he held in one hand while he drank with the other. A few tidbits of conversation still caught his ears though, one in particular from a voice he couldn't quite pin down.

"...I happen to have a plan that may benefit anyone who gets involved. It will require a team effort and a bit of trekking, but I think..." was all he heard between his lack of attention and the other sounds of the Lioness' Den, but the probable meaning of this phrase, along with it's true impact, crystallized in his mind with a sudden feeling. This feeling was the motion of magical energies in the kind of intentional way that always made Azrel's mind snap firmly into focus.

He looked up and saw a Kitsune stride out of the Lioness' Den, the kitsune he had seen earlier. And, he was reasonably sure, the one he had heard speaking. Though Azrel hadn't finished his drink, something told him it wasn't so important now... call it intuition.

Leaving behind his still mostly full mug, Azrel motioned for Aylyn to follow and left after the kitsune, keeping something of a long berth. By the time Azrel finally got close enough to the kitsune to follow him effectively, he was walking off with a Leiger in tow. Though he could have walked up and spoke with him, years of life in his Uncle's 'empire' had engrained in him that it was better to hold back and listen than approach, and old habbits died hard.

Besides, the whole thing seemed vaguely sinister...

Veg smiled a toothy sightly unsettling grin and claped Azetheros on the back a bit roughly but in a good natured way. "Well friends looks like someone tried to drug me and you saved me from a horrible fate. I'd like to thank you all proper like but I'm a little low on cash and a nice fellow like you probably wouldn't accept it anyways," Veg thanked his perceived savoir before heading for the door. Before he left he stopped and bowed low to Ash. "Sorry for the all the trouble mame but I'll be getting out of your hair now," said Veg as he handed her the money for his drinks and a bit extra. She in turn told him that the Kitsune's interest in speaking with him. Veg nodded and thanked her bowing again and followed the faint scent of the fox man out to the street and towards the city gates.

Zephyr stood with military precision and saluted the king.

ooc: okie dokie

D'vor had looked at the mug of ale set before him by the boisterous group with a serious disdain. Spirits and the like were a damndable creation of man, they dampened the senses and clouded the mind, it brought rage into pacifists and false peace into those who were captured. D'vor had already had his fill of this brew when he was a gladiator, it kept the competitors calm outside of matches and brought their rage forth when they were confronted by an enemy.

D'vor slid the drink quietly away as he listened to the Kitsune, he merely nodded when the kitsune made mention of their meeting place. Almost as soon as Cerrave had left the rest of the group broke up and the place seemed to die down. Where do I go to kill a day... D'vor sighed.

Getting up he marched out of the building, he absent mindedly watched passerby's as he moved towards his destination. Seeing the house up ahead he sped up a little as he moved around its front door to arrive at its back. As he reached to knock his body slackened, he let out a deep sigh. He knocked four times.

The door opened quickly as Rose threw herself on the sullen tora, "I knew you couldn't resist me!" she said just before forcing her tongue down his throat.

D'vor set her down gently and had to wait for a moment before the seemingly fragile woman released him from her grip. His morose mood went unnoticed, as always. He wiped some of the extra saliva from his matted fur, before speaking, "Yeah, you know me." Rose dragged him into the home, the sound of a lock clicking into place signified the end of the night for D'vor, and it detailed all of Rose's plans. Rose was a good human woman, but she wasn't the one D'vor wanted.

As Razma kept walking, a Lupus called out to him asking about the events. Must have just come into the city, probably has no idea whats going on. Razma approached, he had places to be, he needed to get out and follow that man as fast as possible. "If you have heard the rumors, basically the king was attacked while signing a peace treaty. There was a second explosion that I have no idea how was caused though. I'm sorry, but I must cut this short, I have places to be." Razma bidded the Lupus fairwell, and left.

Razma was now approaching the castle. Seems there are quite a few guards around. The thought crossed Razma's mind absently as he approached one. "Sir, I have news of the man he did the attacks." Or at least he thought he did. He noticed a wanted poster behind him, with a sketch of a man that looked similiar to the black cloaked man. That didn't take long. Well at least I am sure now. The guard replied "Then follow me to the barracks. The captain is who you will want to speak with." The guard showed Razma in and had him seated, waiting for the captain.