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Champion
human
20 years old
imperial champion
played by tsundere
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my love would not know what to do with a flower garden.
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Post by THALIA DE LUCA on Jan 4, 2015 5:46:09 GMT
city without a door. |  The journey from Shara to Four Rivers is not the most difficult of ordeals. Knowledge of this fact does not make the road less boring. Thalia's dracolisk shifts beneath her, snorting impatiently as the line of prisoners files past. She knows intellectually that escorting criminals to Neri, where the wardens will escort them in turn to the Southron Jungles, is a good and useful job. The river banks rise up in front of her, ships swaying at anchor as sailors swarm over them. She knows she is doing a service to the empire. But Thalia is still bored out of her skull. She wonders if this is punishment for her extracurricular activities in Old Town lately. She nudges on the reins and her dracolisk leaps forward into movement, trotting down to the pull up next to the other soldier--the other champion--she's assigned to monitor this excursion with. "We're halfway done," she says to him, "But I don't fancy spending a week on a boat with this rabble, even if they will be in the cargo hold."CAMERON GUERIN |
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Jan 5, 2015 1:42:26 GMT
monotony suits him. it’s viscous and sluggish, like the river that’ll carry them to their destination, and predictable. at least he hopes there’ll be no surprises—the transport of convicts is routine, though he’s here as insurance against any unexpected developments en route. he and thalia, who pulls up next to him. from the backs of their dracolisks, they loom imposingly over the chain gang, sit eye to eye to each other. i don’t fancy spending a week with you, is what cameron thinks, but then he never says what he means. his chosen reply rolls off the tip of the tongue smoothly, playfully, paired with an easy smile. “it’s not so bad. i’ve had worse—you’ve had worse.” he pauses. “besides, you're spending a week with me.” |
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Champion
human
20 years old
imperial champion
played by tsundere
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my love would not know what to do with a flower garden.
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Post by THALIA DE LUCA on Jan 5, 2015 3:30:30 GMT
city without a door. | Thalia eyes Cameron, but says nothing for a moment. She likes the other champion well enough, and he seems a decent man, but she's never gotten along with him on any level beyond skin-deep. She almost wishes Stefan were here instead. He's always casting barbs, but they catch muscle if not bone, and fending him off always passes the time. The last of the prisoners shuffles onto the boat and Thalia's dracolisk shifts his weight. "I hope you brought a deck of cards," she finally says. "It'll be a long trip if we can only talk and spar." She boots her mount forward before she can color at her own social incompetence. CAMERON GUERIN i was going to make the boat sink and then i realized....why didn't i just start the thread with them on the boat for a day or two already. what's wrong with me. do u wanna timeskip or just send that sucker down rn or option c) none of the above. |
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Jan 11, 2015 4:49:05 GMT
he’s joking. instead of taking the bait thalia chooses to skirt the entire subject, which only makes his smile widen when she thumps her steed and leaves him behind on the riverbank. it’s a perverse pleasure he takes in trying to fluster his fellow champion. if he can’t win against her in a fair fight, there’s still pretend—pretend camaraderie, play soldiers. a game of cards. “that depends. are we playing for bets?” cameron leans forward in the saddle. with a start, his dracolisk follows behind thalia’s. his smile drops. to her back, there’s no longer a need to maintain appearances. |
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Champion
human
20 years old
imperial champion
played by tsundere
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my love would not know what to do with a flower garden.
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Post by THALIA DE LUCA on Jan 15, 2015 18:51:35 GMT
city without a door. | She does end up playing cards with the few sailors who will indulge her. Most of them don't want anything to do with a pair of imperial champions, and the ones who will play with her don't play for keeps. Thalia spends most of her time walking her dracolisk on the small square of deck the captain allots her. He's skittish, distrustful of the roll of the ship and the endless gleaming waves to either side of the boat, but he needs the fresh air and sun on his scales more than he needs to sulk in a stall, so she coaxes him into agreeableness with a hand on his muzzle and soft words. It's on one such excursion (her third of the day, actually--there's not much to do on a boat, she's discovered)--that there is a noise like two stone doors slamming into each other and the ship rocks to an abrupt stop. Water slops over the railing and her dracolisk rears in alarm. Sailors appear from nowhere to swarm like ants over the deck, a flurry of motion that catches Thalia off guard. She's still frozen, one knotted around the halter's lead, when a man shouts to her: "We're sinking!"Oh. Thalia knots the lead around the railing with curious focus and then takes off like a deer for Cameron's quarters. We're going to have to get the prisoners out, she thinks. The river is broad enough that she can't see either bank from the boat. She has no idea how far land is. How many of them can swim? She can't swim. CAMERON GUERIN |
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Jan 20, 2015 3:29:47 GMT
to each their own—that’s the name of the game they play. with nothing better to do, they spar, sometimes, and play cards. they don’t talk much because words come stilted, pre-packaged and tough like the salted meat they eat on board, and because at the end of the day cameron and thalia are not friends. he’s sprawled on his cot with a book to flip through when he hears it, feels the visceral pull on his intestines when the metal beast and all its passengers stop breathing for a synchronized moment. with the aftershock comes the yelling—controlled, but urgent, it harkens nothing good. cameron frowns, drops the paperback, and sits up to grab his uniform jacket in one fluid motion. tugging it on, he meets thalia at the door of his room. if she felt the need to fetch him in person, the situation just spiraled from bad to worse. “thalia. tell me we aren’t sinking.” |
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Champion
human
20 years old
imperial champion
played by tsundere
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my love would not know what to do with a flower garden.
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Post by THALIA DE LUCA on Jan 21, 2015 0:38:00 GMT
city without a door. | "I can tell you whatever you want," she says, "But that won't change what's actually happening. We're sinking."
Thalia feels like she's about to vibrate out of her skin. She takes a breath and grips the frame of the doorway. The boat rocks underneath her. It is not a comforting motion. "We have to get the prisoners out somehow," she says. "There's lifeboats, but I doubt the crew will want to share with them."CAMERON GUERIN |
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Jan 25, 2015 22:49:30 GMT
he remembers hoping against this exact scenario on the day of their departure, but the goddess has a particular fondness for irony, he’s learned. thalia’s already thinking of the prisoners’ safety. cameron is tempted to suggest the watery death that awaits the convicts is a sort of poetic justice for their misdeeds. why save what’s already been damned? in his mind, the southron jungles weigh in as the heavier sentence. he finishes tugging on his jacket, sweeps past her through the doorway. the ship lurches and groans out its death knell. cameron talks as they move down the hall. “it’s an idiotic oversight that there aren’t enough lifeboats for everyone. unsurprising, but stupid.”“either they sink or swim, or we make do and use parts of the hull. that’s all this ship’ll be good for by now.” |
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Champion
human
20 years old
imperial champion
played by tsundere
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my love would not know what to do with a flower garden.
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Post by THALIA DE LUCA on Jan 28, 2015 15:17:41 GMT
city without a door. | "Parts of the hull," she repeated breathlessly. She had no idea what he was talking about--ships weren't her thing, why was she assigned this mission--but she hoped the fact that he'd mentioned the idea meant he could implement. He had to know more than her about ships. Anyone did. "Sounds like a plan. My dracolisk is on the deck. I'll un-tether him and let him swim for land. I can free yours as well while I'm up there."
A deep breath. A pause--no, she couldn't lose momentum. Might as well say it. "I don't actually know how to swim," she said. "I'll find some rope and you can just tie me to one of the...hull pieces that you're getting the prisoners out on. Saves space."CAMERON GUERIN |
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Feb 4, 2015 2:43:29 GMT
his mind is already skipping ahead, to the engine room to find flares and hopefully explosives—it’s a shame neither of them is a witch, with the power to blast the ship apart at their fingertips—to the prisoners’ keep and cells, when thalia’s confession arrests him in his tracks. incredulity leaks through as cameron looks at her. “you don’t know how to swim?”faintly, the thought bubbles up that he’s never had to swim before either, but the process seems simple enough. in theory, anyways. “never mind. i’ll go release the prisoners and meet you on deck. see if you can’t scrap together a lifeboat or two.” he hesitates. “i’m not sure if getting the hull parts will even be possible.”the boat continues to jerk and tilt. cameron swallows down mounting nausea and heads off. |
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Champion
human
20 years old
imperial champion
played by tsundere
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my love would not know what to do with a flower garden.
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Post by THALIA DE LUCA on Feb 10, 2015 17:52:35 GMT
city without a door. | Reflection belongs to the future. She has orders to follow. Without her command, her body falls into motion, a mannequin jerking in stilted time to fulfill its duty. The sailors are in the same flurry of movement that she left them in. Her dracolisk snorts and rears as they scurry around him, but the men are too frantic to be scared by the beast. Thalia slips his halter off his head so he can swim to safety, or the chance of it, in case she doesn't come back in time for him. Then she darts off into the crowd to find the captain. The captain, it turns out, has no patience for her pleas. "I don't vulkin' care if you're an Imperial Champion," he says. "My ship, my law. Who cares if they get off anyway? You're escorting criminals, not patriots of the vulkin' empire. If they drown that's justice too, eh?"She could take the lifeboats by force; her dracolisk would fight beside her and there's not a man here trained enough to stand against her abilities, she suspects, but that would just condemn these men to death in place of her charges. And that's not acceptable either. She nods her assent to his judgment and turns to retrace Cameron's steps. If he needs a hull piece or six, she'll get them for him. CAMERON GUERIN |
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Champion
HUMAN
22 years old
IMPERIAL CHAMPION
played by PISCES
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WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME, I CAN'T BE BLAMED, I WANT YOU TO WANT ME AGAIN
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Post by CAMERON GUERIN on Feb 19, 2015 4:01:10 GMT
his spoils from the engine room are meager at best: three flares bundled in one hand and a black, rectangular box tucked under the arm—he hopes it contains something useful, maybe emergency rations or supplies. no hull parts: he learns from a passing crew member that the site of explosion, and all its potential debris, are already underwater, the entire area blocked off to delay the ship’s sinking. the prisoners are in full uproar when he pushes into the keep. his boots slosh through a shallow, but steadily rising, ankle-level of water. there’s an irritable shadow that crosses it, but cameron’s face remains blankly serious against the hurled insults and clamorous banging of the metal bars. he holds up a key. “don’t try anything. if you want to go down with this ship, test me.” he unlocks the first cell. “line up in front of me, and be quiet.” when the last cell’s been opened, cameron drops the key, free hand automatically moving to hover over the hilt of his sword. the water now laps at his lower shins. “go.”the march upward is orderly, the prisoners quietly obedient in awareness of their position, of the flooding halls. cameron, trailing behind the procession, watches the criminals’ backs keenly. their wrists and ankles are still fettered, but he trusts not a single one. he spots thalia heading towards them. “any luck on your part?” cameron shakes his head, grimaces slightly. “we have our damned, and no hull parts. those are lost to the river, i think.” |
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