Monologue

Gritting her teeth, Ahtashi let out more and more magic, magnifying the cracks she was making in the ground outside the building she was in. She wanted to ground the massive creature. To limit its range of movement. To bury it. But it was definitely going slower than she had originally planned for. Fighting through the densely packed cobblestones of the square was more difficult than she had anticipated, and took more concentration than usual.

Behind her, she could hear Beth scrambling around, picking up and--she assumed--examining various pieces of weaponry. Repeated clunks told her that the other woman was apparently having a difficult time finding something exactly to her liking, but eventually there is a small exhale of satisfication.

Unfortunately, Ahti is not given the opportunity to ask the other woman what she had picked. There is a clamor outside, a scream of a child, and the blind girl abandons her spell efforts to throw her hands up. Her arms had no more than crossed in front of her face before Clare slammed into the building through the window closest to her, and she let ouf a half-scream at the commotion the entrance made.

Hamal, you should really learn to divide your attention more evenly to other people! Ahti thinks in alarm. But there was no time for that. Where was Beth? She cast wildly around for the bearings of the other woman before giving up. She'd just have to take everything, then--she at least knew the rough size of the room and she was fairly certain that the last place she had heard Beth set down a piece of weaponry was not far to her left.

Irrately, she clicks her tongue as she hears a particularly threatening crack to her right. It was too close for comfort, and the surprise of all of these happenings caused her to stumble. Taking a deep breath and steadying herself, she slammed her heel against the flooring, forcing her magic it into the ground far below. The earth rumbles under her command, hitting the collapsing second floor and supporting it, with a portion surging up through the cracks in the floorboards and curving. The ground floor was done for--actually this whole building was done for, but this was still far better than the possibility of falling into a rubble pile and being buried.

When the dust clears, it is to reveal that what remains of the building is encased in an earthen cage, perched on a fat column. Rocks and brick are scattered all around the unnatural tree, and it is quiet until the front starts to crumble. First little pebbles break away, followed by larger chunks, and then with a sudden violent coughing fit Ahtashi pops her head up, covered head to toe in dust and breathing heavily from her spell. The other two are there too, in various states of disarray.

"Lady Gealdrinn?" she chokes out. "...flying warrior? Did we make it through?"

Alive, she tacks on silently at the end.

CRIES BECAUSE SCHOOL AU.

We'll see, we'll see.

The first thing that notified Ahtashi that something was wrong was Hamal, who took the opportunity to hiss viciously. Leaping down from her shoulder, it circled her ankles, snarling. Its ears were flat; its tail lashing. The wisps in its fur waved wildly around, mimicking the shadows that were rising all around the square.

She sucked in a sharp breath, eyes narrowing behind her veil. Hamal clearly felt threatened, which she had never heard happen before. Since she had first picked it up in the shadows of the corner of the garden back at home, she had never heard more than a squeak from it. Glancing down at the general direction of the ground, she imagined that his spine would be arched like in the picture books, tail and back all spiked up. The only thing she had ever seen for herself were its eyes.

She waved those thoughts away in mild frustration. Think, think. Listen carefully. Wasn’t that her father being mentioned? But why in that context... with that tone...? If only Hamal would stop swinging his focus from one place to another, then maybe she could start to make sense of all this and squash the feeling of unease--

As if hearing her silent plea, Hamal’s gaze lock onto the headless suit of armor. It was a mixed blessing--this had not been what she was expecting and she swallowed nervously, taking half a step back on instinct. It was like a thing in the stories she had overheard from the maids, and it was enormous, made larger from the low vantage point she was forced to use.

“Blasted,” she hissed under her breath. So focused was she on the new discovery that she completely missed Caius’s instructions, only to squeak in surprise as she was bodily lifted up. An immediate feeling of panic washed over her as her feet left the familiarity of solid ground, and in response she clutched desperately at the material of his shirt.

“Put me down!” she snapped, feeling only a tad better with her tight grip on his shoulder. They weren’t even that far from the building to begin with--she could have gotten there by herself, thank you very much. Blind or not, however, she did not appreciate being picked up like a sack of potatoes. Not like she was given much attention or an answer as they get into the building, Hamal darting in with the door being slammed a hair’s breadth from the tip of its tail.

It darts under a stool as Ahtashi is set down, and she lets out a breath she hadn’t been aware of holding. Her relief is short-lived though--Caius’s next words produce a frown on her face and a short click of her tongue. “And what are you going to do?” she asks crankily, even as she hears him run up the stairs and out of earshot. From Hamal, she sees Beth give a slight inclination of her head, verifying her assumption.

Heaving a large sigh, she rubs at her temples. For several moments she’s silent, until a soft murmur of, “...irritating,” escapes her mouth, so soft it’s almost missed. Hamal crawls out from under the stool, ears pricked and eyes focused on her clenching and unclenching fist.

“It’s irritating,” she says again, louder this time. “‘Take her and go,’ he says. Like he has to deal with unwanted blind baggage.” She huffs, slowly tapping a foot against the ground.

Then she turns herself so that she can face the general direction of the door. “Hamal,” she says shortly. “Show me the entire area.”

At the command, Hamal scuttles out from the safety of the stool, darting up the steps after Caius. It hesitates briefly at the window, peering left and right, before bounding out. Taking off at a run the moment its paws hit the ground, it streaks past the two closest to the building. And with a hiss of distaste, it leaped right into a shadow, melting into it until nothing but its eyes were visible. From there, it slid from one shadow to another, only the glow of gold marking its progress around the entire square.

Gritting her teeth, Ahtashi raised her hands in front of her, reaching out with her magic, under and beyond the walls of the building. The first few cracks in the cobbled ground started to appear just in front of the door, streaking forward and branching out in no time.

“Ah... Beth of Gealdrinn, was it?” Ahti now takes the time to ask, without turning her head. “I apologize, but we’re going to have to wait on the exit order. It’s a bit of a hassle and takes a while to cast, but I can still perform larger-scaled earth magic from here as a support. And whatever that man plans, I need him to live through it so that, afterwards, I can chew him out for such rude conduct towards a lady.”

"My cat?" Ahtashi asked, glancing up in surprise and turning to face the speaker. It was a voice she did not recognize, and she could feel a small hint of alarm creeping up on her. But if she said 'cat,' and those were her boots she was seeing, then surely it must be Hamal.

"Oh... did you find him? I'm sorry to trouble you," she manages instead, giving the general direction of the other a small smile. "I was beginning to wonder what I would do without him." It wasn't entirely a lie, but it verged enough on small pleasantries that it allowed her to calm herself down a little after the sudden surprise.

Hamal, though, took the opportunity to paw its way to her shoulder, quietly putting its face eye-level to her's. With a jolt of embarrassment, Ahti realized that she had been staring fixedly at the speaker's shoulder--and even then just barely. She was quick to rectify this mistake, hoping the veil would hide her embarrassment. Smoothing down the front of her skirt, she gave a polite inclination of her head and returned the greeting.

"Once again, thank you for bringing Hamal to me. I am Ahtashi, but you may call me Ahti if you feel inclined," she offered. After a pause, she added, "I'm very sorry... but do I know your name, miss...?" Hamal, meanwhile, was busy giving the entire town square a thorough checking over. There were two men and a woman that he recognized from creeping about the airship. Ahtashi, however, did not seem to react much at all even when Hamal let his gaze stay on each for a bit before moving on.

Don't worry about it too much. As a necessary consequence of involving so many people this RP is pretty edit-heavy. If you want to change something feel free, just be sure to notify anyone who's posts it would affect.

Haha thanks. I'll keep that in mind!

It's just this is the first time I'm working with a blind character and it's a new character to boot, so I'm still "testing the waters", so to speak. I'll have her down in about a week once I flesh her out a bit or something.

//sobs now that I'm awake last nights (early, early morning's?) post is laughably awkward.

I will soon have a way of writing Ahti that I like. Soon.

Also note to self stop writing things at 1 am.

Ahtashi vividly remembers the worry in her parents' voices when she had voiced her desire to join in on this... third crusade. "But your sight," they said. "Your mark can invite disaster. Perhaps you should study some more and get a better grip over your second element."

And she supposes that this was all very good advice. A blinded soldier with limited sight was easily a burden. Misinterpretations could be fatal. And truly, truly, only the best tended to survive great ventures like Crusades. Her parents had presented valid points, points she was loathe to admit to, but in that same vein she had an obstinately stubborn streak that simply failed to peter out. And besides:

"Brother will be there, and there is nothing better than learning from first-hand experience."

Thinking back, it was really a stupid and cheeky (and possibly very low) method of getting permission to go off, but it had worked--a fine testiment to Camus's astounding abilities. And at that time, it had pleased her.

"I think I am a fool," Ahtashi sighed to herself, gingerly feeling around her and pulling herself up to stand. Hamal was not near her--they must have gotten separated during the crash, and she dearly hoped that it was a temporary separation. Her familiar was fine, though, albeit rather disoriented, given the slew of images that were flooding her dead eyes. She almost wished that there was a way she could tell the poor thing to calm down, no matter the distance between them. All the images of an unknown place were confusing her.

Far more reliable were her fingers. Pressing her palm against the wall, she took several tentative steps forward, sliding her hand along the brick. She was against a long wall, it seemed, and--oh, was this a window?--it appeared to be the exterior of some sort of building. A faint chill in the air further solidified the idea that she was outdoors.

"Hamal," she says, flinching in surprise as something brushes past her. Was it a person? She thought she felt something like a hand. "I'm sorry. Please excuse me," she murmured, free hand automatically reaching up to adjust her veil. "I'm sorry--have you seen a cat-like creature?" Perhaps one of these perceived people would be kind enough to help her find her familiar.

What seemed like five agonizingly slow minutes finally pass, and she heaves an audible sigh of relief when the shared images between her and her familiar finally focus. She gropes her way to the edge of the building and stops, remaining still as she observes the path the feline-like creature decides to take.

She's fairly sure that a childish grin crosses her face when she finally appears in Hamal's line of sight, too. The familiar makes a beeline for his mistress, giving the town square a sweeping glance as he leaps up to her shoulder. Ah... now she could finally see. That was as good a start as any.

Um okay the Price of Loyalty seems to be exploding with people so I'm going to try to worm into the Tears of the Maiden group… I guess.

I forgot how hard it was to worm into the middle of an rp. QAQ

Mmkay so I believe I have a character concept I am pleased with so here's to an application.
Also I probably spent way too long on the sketch because I kept getting distracted.

Might ah... add some more things later but this should be the gist of it.

Mmkay so I have an idea that I sort of like--taking a break from my stronger fighting characters since I have a lot of them working in other universes and I'd like some diversity!

So this is running off the estranged sibling idea:

• earth magic affinity, secondary water. 20 years of age. Named Ahtashi, but you may call her Ahti for short.
• entered the Academy late--she has a birthmark on her face that is often associated with ill omens so spent much of her childhood holed away at home with a private tutor. She was mostly seen as an embarrassment for it and taught at a young age that that made her undesireable for marriage, so she was even useless in the traditional roles. Wears a veil to cover her mark.
• She is blind, and the only way she can see is through the eyes of her familiar: a little black cat. She is never able to "turn off" this connection so her sight is usually unreliable unless her cat is on her shoulders. She does, though, have a great knowledge of the backalleys from the viewpoint of a cat.
• She holds her older brother in a mixture of admiration and contempt. They are not very close--I imagine that on the off chance that they saw each other when they were young their exchanges were short and curt, which only seemed to get worse the more reclusive and academically-renown he got. Her contempt has roots in how she herself pales in comparison from her brother, but stems mostly from how she is rarely even seen as worthy of a comparison. If anything, the only reason she struggles so hard to study and catch up on all the material she is late in learning is because she has a deep-set need to be acknowledged as something other than ill fortune... especially if that acknowledgement comes from her family.

I... will probably have more later on when I flesh her out more. This is an old character that I'm planning on revamping.

Just read 20 pages a day, you'll be fine. XD

*frowns loudly at you*

*flops in*

Guys I'm not a saint all 200 pages is a little too much to handle. ;A;

But I uh... think I have the basics of the plot down and such.

A summary would be nice yeah?

BTW hi. *waves*

Hello, hello!

So my friend was talking to me about her adventures on Batoto and has thus roped me in! So I suppose an introduction is in order. *rubs hands together*

Don't hold your breath guys I'm really not that interesting ahahaaaa

I am Monologue, and I guess you can call me Mon if you want.

I am pretty into the Pokemon fandom and I think I've come to the conclusion that it has me fast in its grasps and will never let go. Haha. I enjoy creative writing and I have a lofty dream of getting a novel published... which probably means I should get off my lazy butt and write it shhh that's a secret. I also do a lot of art like the little sketch-kitty in my avatar over there *gestures* and you can find me over at DeviantArt if you look hard enough.

And I uh... I likes cats and food. Yeah.