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Post by Aaron Williams on Aug 17, 2007 9:00:29 GMT -5
He rolled his eyes for the third time today. "Stop following me". "Boot Ey have to follo you", said the small girl who strained to stay in stride with his left leg. "Ey em your squire, meanink Ey have to follo you every where".
He knew it would get him nowhere, but still he argued, "Noo....being my squire means you do things for me so that you can learn how to be a knight". "Noo, being your squire means zet I follo you every where, and do every sing zet you do, Khasty!"
The man known as 'Khasty' stopped inches from a tall iron door, as two more knights lined up to his right, "I told you to stop calling me that!" Whispered 'Khasty' through gridded teeth, "Call me Sir Khast or...something..."
"Wutever you say, Khasty!" Yelled the girl, before Khast quickly elbowed her in the ribs. "Hey, wut vas zat for?!"
As the girl spoke, Sir Kast pointed discretely at a young boy who had entered through the doors that the two of them had come through a few seconds ago. He wore a ceremonial green robe and matching headdress, that matched his eyes with an eerie accuracy. Accompanied by six guards, the child looked out of place, and rather awkward. He stopped between the two sets of guards before the door, and smiled to them, "Lets give them a good show, ne?"
And with that, Khast and the other door guards pushed open the castle gates, revealing a cheering audience. The Kastel steeped outside, gracing the crown, but the girls mind was elsewhere, "Ne? Zats so cool! Ne!"
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Post by Aaron Williams on Aug 17, 2007 9:10:11 GMT -5
"good people of Genoa, I come before you today as another one of your ranks has been inducted into the knights have been with us for many years, and the veterans of The Last War, leaders have strode to be the best they can be, but of recent some dark force killing our higher ranking generals is nothing to fear, for we will certainly put a number of people are hard at work trying to find this a dark time, for it is not a threat to you must help us by reporting any suspicious persons who lead to the capture of this threat will be treated as Kastel I urge you to stand for your country"
"Kit! Pay attention", said Sir Khast, again elbowing the young girl in the ribs.
"Ee spoke to me!! Ne!!"
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Post by belmoon on Aug 17, 2007 19:05:34 GMT -5
A dark figure emerged from the door, applauding along with the audience before flipping Kit's hair in her face. "Rubberbands is right, kid. Better pay attention, this shit is realll important. Just like every other public appearance to calm the collective groan of Genoa." A toothy grin spread across his face, and he laid his back against the wall behind Khast, looking out over the people. "If I spit from here, I bet I could get somebody in the face. Not that I'm going to, but you understand me."
Zambi Taup, one of the royal knights less accurate to his title. A man whose presence in public was as desired as a malfunctioning guillotine. He gave no respect to people, and he demanded none back. He merely took it.
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Post by Aaron Williams on Aug 17, 2007 19:36:49 GMT -5
"This sh...stuff is important, Zambi! The Kastel doesn't just speak to release his wind every now and then! There is something serious going on, and you'd both benefit to hear what it is. And another thing, you can't just....'spit' from the stairs of the royal palace, what if you put someones eye out, or...or worse! What if you hit the Kastel! You'd get executed for such an act! Not that I'm complaining...of course, but..." During the course of the long winded speech, Kit had rolled her eyes, lost interest, gained interest, taken note of a particularly suspicious looking person in the audience, lost him, found him again, and decided she needed to go pee. "Okee, zats enough, Khasty. Shot oup...."
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Post by belmoon on Aug 17, 2007 22:12:05 GMT -5
Zambi couldn't help but roll his eyes along with Kit. "My powers, Khast, you're a pansy. Eh, I'm gonna go into town to get some food." He turned his back to Khast and returned into the darkness. "Sounds like the Kastell's finished, you should go do something, too."
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Post by priestwarrior on Aug 19, 2007 16:33:09 GMT -5
Bars are interesting places, especially ones that are not widely...advertised. Good places to perform a business transaction, say, that would best not be brought to the attention of the law, or to gather information, or just to taste subtle interactions among people.
The Sign of the Stoat was just such a place - despite the name, no sign was visible outside, and there was always some new intrigue taking place. For instance, the big man and the veiled woman at a table in the corner displayed a whole range of swiftly shifting stances, from aggressive to seductive in a moment. They were watched by most of the others in the room, including a short, smarmy man at a table by himself in a different corner. He grinned at a particularly hostile reaction on the part of the woman (who had drawn a pistol and trained it on the bridge of her companion's nose) and raised his mug to his lips. It twisted around suddenly, flinging beer in a variety of directions. The small man looked down in disgust at his soaked trousers, then up at the hooded man who had taken a seat across from him. "Whaddya want, Stein?" snarled the small man. The other leaned back and spoke softly. "I was told, Swarm, that you had data regarding the Giotta case." Swarm grinned – grimaced rather. “Yeah, I got info. You got money?” Stein tossed a handful of coins across the table. The informant picked them up, examined them, and grunted. “Alright, it’s like this, see? My source tells me the prime suspect in this case ran into a Red Hand group somewhere in a back alley here in Genoa.” The hooded man’s mouth twitched. “That’s a long way from Giotta, Swarm.” Swarm nodded. “Yeah, I figure he’d have had to come by boat. All the roads out of there would be too dangerous for him. Now, I’m not telling you how to do your job or anything, but if I were you, I might…” “…examine the registries of ships here from that area.” “Natch, but also you might wanna talk to the captains and crews. He might not be on the registries.” “I am aware of that. Have you a visual?” Swarm pushed a ragged piece of paper across the table. “This is what my source drew up. He’s not bad with a piece of charcoal.” Stein examined the paper. “Excellent, Swarm.”
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Post by Aaron Williams on Aug 19, 2007 22:05:02 GMT -5
As the crowd filtered away, Khast's mind was still steaming over his failed confrontation of Zambi, "I'm gonna get some lunch in the mess hall, are you comming?".
Kit's eyes were transfixed on the crowd, watching the suspicious character bounce in and out of sight. "Nah, I've got some-sing to do, I'll cotch you laiter tho..." Then, as if in a daze, the girl faided into the crowd, moving off of instinct alone. Khast thought it was odd that the small girl did not seem to want to follow his every move, but he was not complaining. At this rate he may even get a nap in before she found him again...
Kit moved fluidly through the crowd in persut of the cloaked figure as it moved.
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Post by priestwarrior on Aug 20, 2007 21:32:26 GMT -5
The man calling himself Stein walked out of the Sign of the Stoat whistling quietly. He stepped onto a small wheeled platform which moved quickly in the direction of the harbor without visible means of power.
About two hours later, he found what he was looking for. "Yep, I remember that kid," said the burly captain of the Aegean Sullen type. Paid for passage by scrubbing dishes. I didn't ask questions." "When did he leave the ship?" asked Stein. "Oh, yesterday morning," replied the captain. "Say, what're you after him for, anyway?" Stein scowled. "That is absolutely none of your business," he said as he stalked down the gangplank.
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Post by Aaron Williams on Aug 21, 2007 21:16:44 GMT -5
Another turn, another dark corridor, Kit was beginning to get bored of following this man. At long last the man came to a stop. stood in a large circular room, his back turned to Kit. The young blond walked proudly up behind the suspicious man, "Pardon me, Sur, but mey ey see eyour e-dentification?"
The man turned slowly to face Kit, "Well, well, well, what have we here? It seems that an ownlynx has wandered straight into the Kurts lair...". Kit backed away slowly, but the doors slammed shut behind her, "Vut are you talking aboot?" But it was too late, in an instant they were upon her, taking no note of her screams as they clawed at her being.
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Post by belmoon on Aug 24, 2007 15:19:45 GMT -5
A muffled voice could be heard behind the shut doors.
"Hey, get outta my way, I'm on business from the Kastell."
"What do you mean you're not gonna move for anything?"
The doors exploded with such force they flew to pieces. A humongous shark man stood among the rubble, as well as the two unconscious individuals who had tried to keep him away. "Zambi's here." He noticed the large swarm of criminals piling onto Kit.
"Okay, do I have to tear every one o' y' bastards off of her, or are you gonna back off!?" Zambi roared. The swarm of small timers froze instantly and turned to him. They knew not to agitate something like that.
He smirked, flashing several rows of teeth. "Naw, I'm just kidding. I was gonna beat the hell out of you guys anyway." Bodies flew everywhere around the room for the next two minutes. When finished, Zambi was human again, and looked proud of his job well done. "Heh! Kastell said not to kill 'em, so I'd say this was some pretty good improv, considering what I had to work with," he said, wiping the dirt from the enemies off on his pants.
"So, kid. 'Sup."
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Post by priestwarrior on Aug 24, 2007 20:10:59 GMT -5
The lanky boy's head hit the wall ungently. Stein glanced at the rest of the gang, who were cowering against various parts of the alley wall, each staring into a glistening silver needle hovering just in front of their eyes. A small mist of blades swirled beneath each tiny sliver, keeping it aloft. Stein almost smiled at the expressions on their faces, but returned his attention to the leader, who was eyeing the spinning toothed blade two inches from his throat. "So then what happened - Spike, is it?" asked Stein quietly. "After th-that," sobbed the boy, "I d-don't know. There w-was a flash and we were all bli-blinded. When we could see again, h-he was gone." He looked up, searching for some sign that he had done what was required. He didn't find it. "I'm sorry!" he screamed, "It's all I know, I swear!" Stein looked at him for a moment, then halted the spinning of the blade. "Thank you all for your cooperation," he said as he walked away down the alley, followed by the hovering needles.
Spike sighed quaveringly as Stein disappeared. Most of the other gang members collapsed, sniveling. "What was that about?" one of them asked after a while. "I don't know," Spike ground out, "but when I find that kid again, I'll kill him." They nodded agreement, then scuttled away, vanishing into the shadows of Genoa.
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Post by Aaron Williams on Aug 26, 2007 14:18:54 GMT -5
In the few minutes it had taken Zambie to penetrate the establishment, Kit had been mauled. Bloody tears decorated the small girls clothing as well as her skin. However, they seemed trivial compared to the pain that screamed in her head.
"M' ...foine...", Mumbled the girl. She staggered toward Zambie's voice, her left hand covering her pounding forehead as her right feebly maintained balance.
"M' foine Khasty, boot ken you take mi home?" Now clear and concise, the girls voice betrayed her condition where her body could not. The room tilted out of existence, and Kit's body hit the ground with a silent thud.
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Post by priestwarrior on Aug 26, 2007 15:10:49 GMT -5
Stein walked into the barracks, head down, lost in thought, ignoring the receptionist's cheerful, "Morning, Vertigo." "Sewers," grunted Vertigo. "Where would an outlander wind up if he landed in the sewers?" He collided with an officer coming out of the mess hall, knocking him over. "Oh, my apologies, Khast," said Vertigo, extending a hand to the prone figure. "What news? How did the Kastell's proclamation go?"
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Post by Aaron Williams on Aug 26, 2007 21:59:32 GMT -5
The man took Stein's hand, hoisting himself back upright. "Words to live by, Ezra, word's to live by". It must have been amusing for someone who did not know these two men, to see a man be toppled by another who barely came to his chest.
"As far as the news goes...", said Khast as he wiped himself off, "There hasn't been any of late, really. Everything's been quiet as usual around here...".
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Post by belmoon on Aug 27, 2007 16:41:13 GMT -5
Just as the word "quiet" was said, as if cued, Zambi walked into the barracks with a bloodied Kit over his shoulder. He spotted Khast and promptly walked over to him.
"Hey, Khast, I found your thing," he said, tossing Kit in the house's face. "Not my fault, she came that way. Watch your stuff more closely, it could get hurt." With that said, he headed off to the lockers.
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