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| Roaming Homewards; Dalbhack! O: | |
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| Topic Started: Dec 28 2013, 09:50 PM (239 Views) | |
| Zeno | Dec 28 2013, 09:50 PM Post #1 |
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τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν.
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The Loniar Swamp was a pretty shitty shortcut, but a shortcut it was. Zeno plodded his way across the damp soil and winding fog and thought Well, people who sign up for shortcuts aren't necessarily signing up for something enjoyable. After all that mess in Soto, with the wild animals and the tavern, all he wanted to do was to get home and to be safe. So, even though the dusk was growing and even though his back ached from the weight of his possessions, including a large brown chicken in a sturdy cage, he persisted. Cyno followed behind him, whimpering occasionally as she looked between the crooked trees that bent over the still water. Zeno wasn't exactly sure what upset her, mostly because she was so needy and frequently upset that it no longer helped to ask. He was just glad that she was following close behind rather than getting distracted and running around trying to herd the flies. Zeno stomped along beside a particularly large pool, his face a mask of determination. Through the sparse forest around him, he could see the fading light in the east. Sooner or later, he would have to find a place to settle for the night; it would be far too easy to slip and break his hips in the dark, then he'd be just like every other helpless old bastard out there. He'd probably also be dead. Just as he thought this, Cyno suddenly barked. Zeno jumped with surprise and down he went, slipping on the wet earth and landing flat on his back. The cage he was carrying crashed onto the ground and Gorgo the chicken squawked loudly and emitted several small gouts of flame. The cursing began immediately. The earth was frigid and damp, therefore Zeno's himation and cloak were no cold and damp. The earth was also pretty hard, and therefore Zeno's back now hurt a lot, like someone had applied a brand to his spine. He cursed loudly and so vigorously that his sentences really had no grammar to them any more. Tears sprang up in his eyes as he reached around for his walking stick, twisting further this way and that in the blindness of his pain. Finally, he got a hold on it, panted wordlessly for a while, and then resumed his panting as he rolled over and tried to stand up. It took a long time, and all the while, Cyno stood and growled at some point in the distance, her body trembling. Upon standing, Zeno glared at her. "What the fuck was that for? What're you staring at?" Cyno responded by barking again, but thankfully Zeno didn't fall down this time. He bent his knees and picked up Gorgo's cage, narrowly avoiding being set on fire while he set it right side up. He stood up straight, his breathing settling, and stared ahead at whatever Cyno was staring at. It was hard to see at first, but he soon perceived the shape of a horse standing in amongst the trees. His irritation only grew. "It's just a horse, you fuckhole." Now the question was why there was a horse out here in the first place. Had it bucked its rider and wandered off on its own. He approached with a slight concern, Cyno following only reluctantly. The horse was quite huge, taller than Zeno himself, with a great quantity of hair about its ankles. Not a flighty nag in any case, but a work horse, maybe, which was weird since there weren't farms in the swamps. But then it also stood with great dignity and its hide was very glossy, both things which he didn't expect from a work horse. Once he was closer, Zeno put down Gorgo's cage, ignoring the racket she was making. He approached slowly, his eyes trained on the horse and his hand held out cautiously. The first thought that occurred to him was to pet the horse, but he didn't know what was going to do after that. He didn't really have much experience with horses; he hadn't ridden since he was much younger, and even then he'd only ever been thrown off of them. |
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| Dalbhack | Dec 29 2013, 01:36 PM Post #2 |
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Loniar swamp was far from the capital of Ashoka, but the distance really meant nothing to the Pooka. So long as he didn’t get too far from what he considered home. Being in the position he was in as well he didn’t want to be caught too far from his home country either, just in case assumptions were made about his business. Of all the inquisitors he liked to think of himself as the best suited for spying, and why not, he could simply walk through most walls if he so wished too. But he was in no such business today. Today had been a day to run, and run he did, he had been known to go great distances in a single day and so he had this day. Though in all honesty he had not been that far from the southern edge of Ashoka and not that far from the swamp itself. This wasn’t his first time to the swamp either. He came here on occasion for the chance at perhaps drawing out his water counterpart of a kelpie; thus far he attempts had been unsuccessful. The swamp was a nice escape from the majority of Ashoka anyway, the weather was extremely different. Though the heat could often be the same, in the swamp it was just more humid and sometimes made Dalbhack a bit tired. So it was no wonder he didn’t notice the man at first. Pawing at the soft ground a bit he gave a snort and shook his great head before turning those unearthly eyes upon the man. It was a treat indeed to see a human here and the Pooka was more than willing to have a great bit of fun with this. Standing for the most part still in the swamp Dalbhack stretched out his neck to give the human’s hand a seemingly friendly bump with his large nose. Even exhaling in a big puff on the man. |
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| Zeno | Dec 31 2013, 04:27 PM Post #3 |
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τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν.
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Zeno shivered a little when the horse turned to face him. He knew enough to know that those eyes were not natural: they looked like a pair of tiny moons in the darkness and they looked upon him with intelligence. But he had come too far already. The horse bumped his nuzzle up into Zeno's open palm, his warm, wet breath rushing down his wrist. More out of cautious obligation than anything, Zeno patted him, all too aware of Cyno's continued growling behind him. Rubbing his fingers through the short hair on the horse's face, he talked slowly and thoughtfully, "Well, well, who are you? A real horse, out alone, or something greater? I do hope you don't try to kill me, it's taken me quite a while to get here and I have a while to go before I get home." He clenched his cane tightly with his other hand, ready to fight back should trouble arise. His mind was as sharp as a knife, raised to strike. The muscles in his legs were clenched, waiting to run. |
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| Dalbhack | Jan 5 2014, 08:44 AM Post #4 |
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Dalbhack looked slightly at the dog with what might have been considered contempt if one could read such facial expressions on a horse. Not that the Pooka didn’t like dogs, just that often dogs didn’t like him. True it might have something to do with occasionally whisking their masters off at speeds they could not hope to achieve, but Dalbhack would never admit to that being the cause. For not the giant horse gave a soft snort in the dog’s general direction and a flip of his head that said he didn’t care for the dog’s opinion of him. ‘Kill you?’ thought Dalbhack with an amused laugh to himself, a laugh in his head of course because the laughter of horses was something odd to behold. Zeno may have been lucky that this particular Pooka didn’t just out right kill people. One because he had to at least somewhat represent Ashoka in an occasionally good light and two he enjoyed toying with people first. On occasion there was the third reasoning of he usually didn’t kill people directly; blood loss and starvation being a few of the causes of death of the Pooka’s victims. Blinking amused white eyes the pooka tilted its head as the man clenched tight to his cane. He would give the old man credit for spunk, though he wasn’t sure that cane would help the old man out that much against him, not that he was even going to attack the man. Dalbhack considered offering the old man a ride, but he doubted the old man would go with his dog and chicken thing? It was so much more difficult to lure people with luggage, at east sometimes. The pooka pawed the ground before stamping it a bit almost angrily sending up moss and mud in quantities that seemed unnatural, to the point where he created something of a cloud. “Why’s an old man out in the swamp alone?” came a voice from the ‘cloud’ Dalbhack had decided that it might just be best to return to his human form and engage in a conversation, so there he stood before the old man in his human form wrapped in black clothing. |
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| Zeno | Jan 22 2014, 01:26 PM Post #5 |
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τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν.
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Zeno drew away a little as the horse beat its hoof on the ground, momentarily thinking it an expression of anger before he realised that it was for the sake of something else, namely the cloud of dust that swirled unnaturally over the ground, and then spoke. Zeno opened his mouth to say something defensive about why he was here, but he blinked, and there wasn't a horse in front of him any more. In a fraction of a second, the horse had been replaced by a dark-skinned man with hair that glowed like a ghostly substance in the dimming light. Zeno closed his mouth again and frowned. "Oh, so you're not a horse. Not just a horse." Cyno had stopped barking. She was suddenly excited to see this man, bounding forth to sniff his shoes and clothes and all the foreign scents he brought with him. Zeno glowered at her, though he admitted to himself that she was quite smart for being able to tell when something was concealed. Apparently, so long as she knew all of what a person was, she was pretty much fine with it. "Well, I don't know what a horse-man thing is doing here, but I'm just trying to home. I was in northern Soto and this is a less roundabout way to get back into the plains of Morrim. Is there a problem with that?" |
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| Dalbhack | Jan 31 2014, 10:15 AM Post #6 |
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Dalbhack gave something of a disgusted grunt as the dog bounded up to him and proceeded to sniff about his person. It wasn’t that he didn’t like animals, he just wasn’t overly fond of being sniffed, and dogs tended to be the worst. Something about them always had them end up getting in a tizzy around him. Maybe it was because he was something of a supernatural creature. For now he was tangent to this world, but the second that dog started acting up he would be shifting over to an intangible state to avoid any injury from the dog’s sudden need to bite him. They always seemed to want to bite him at some point. “I’d be offended by being called a horse-man thing if I thought people knew what Pooka’s were; though maybe I should still be offended,” he commented still keeping a wary eye on the dog. Though honestly it was probably best his race was still something of a mystery to the many varying people of Elenlond, and even more that his existence in general was unknown to those outside of Ashoka. There was something about this man that said even if he knew that Dalbhack was an Inquisitor of Ashoka he wouldn’t back down from a confrontation with the pooka. What a curious old man indeed. “No problem with that, as long as that is[/] what you are doing,” he affirmed with a short nod of the head and his pale eyes locked on the man before him. |
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| Zeno | Mar 7 2014, 05:44 PM Post #7 |
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τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν.
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Zeno raised an eyebrow. "Be offended if you want, you're only getting worked up over something that's beyond your control." What kind of damn creature was a Pooka anyways? It was like he stood there and made the conscious decision to be bothered by the fact that Zeno had not called him by his racial name despite the fact that he knew he shouldn't be bothered by it anyways. “No problem with that, as long as that is what you are doing,” he said. Zeno felt a weariness descend over him, or rather, an intensification of the weariness he already felt. Now he'd have to walk for even longer just to find some dry spot to spend the night that was away from this pretentious asshole. Obviously this man had power. Zeno knew it from the moment that he'd confronted the situation like he had some duty to regulate it. He'd spend a large portion of his life trying to avoid such pretension and yet here it was, appearing in a swamp and asking him what he was doing. "Yep, that is exactly what I'm doing. Sorry to hold you up by making you hold me up." With that, he whistled to Cyno, picked up Gorgo and made to walk past the man, all too eager to just get on with his journey already. |
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| Dalbhack | May 12 2014, 12:17 PM Post #8 |
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((So sorry! I don't know what happened with this one. I think I saw it but never read it then it got buried and you know how sometimes that latest post list updates so quickly? Yeah I think it just got buried D: )) "Spoken like a true old man," commented Dalbhack nodding his head casually. In his mind it was the sort of thing only old folks said, old folks and elves. Although elves got quite offensive when you called them something they were not; like if you called them a pointy eared man-thing. That was along the same lines as this, right? But old people, usually humans, as old elves tended to still be quite stuck up; had this weird view about the world and how towards the end of their lives why be upset about anything. Dalbhack found this a very silly notion, but maybe because he was an older lived creature? Not quite immortal, not that he knew of, just a creature that was bound to live for at least a couple hundred years. But he was getting off track he supposed. "Oh but we're not quite done here yet," said the Pooka drifting to block Zeno's way, "You see the problem is you are coming from Soto into Morrim, and well that simply will not do for me to let you pass without thoroughly searching your things for contraband." Dalbhack laced his gauntleted fingers together as he tilted his head to the side a wide fanged grin on his dark face that was as serious as it was mischievous. |
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| Zeno | May 22 2014, 06:16 PM Post #9 |
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τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν.
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Quite irritatingly, the man was in Zeno's way. He halted suddenly, rocking Gorgo in her cage and making her squawk in indignation. Cyno whimpered in surprise and stared up at Zeno plaintively. Zeno gave the man a disbelieving stare. "Seriously?" he asked, "And who are you to do that? Forgive my prejudice, but you hardly look like a Morrimian minister, especially when you're malingering about in the swamps in this way. And what do you think you will find in this bag anyways?" He gestured at the limp pack hanging from his shoulders, which contained only an extra set of clothes, a waterskin, a two withered apples and a hardened hunk of bread. "Perhaps I am smuggling illegal dust, or a few illegal insects. Unless you'd like to inspect my chicken, who came from Morrim and breathes fire. Good luck with that." Zeno scoffed at the thought and stepped sideways once more, narrowly skirting a pool of water in an attempt to get past the Pooka. |
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| Dalbhack | May 23 2014, 04:25 AM Post #10 |
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"Insects are not to be taken lightly sir," said the Pooka casually drifting towards the direction Zeno was stepping. "How do I know you don't have some pair of beetles in there or ants that you plan on breeding or magicking into bigger beetles or ants. I'd have to consider that an act of war. Bugs sir are very dangerous animals. You already have a fire breathing chicken, for which alone could get you arrested, how do I know you wont make fire breathing ants!" He ho hummed to himself a bit as he twisted around in the air, it was always so hard to stay still when floating. Not because of any balance issue but because of the overwhelming enjoyment one could get from simply ending up upside down, sideways, or even diagonally. Also the Pooka was a bit of a fidgety creature out of habit when he didn't have something to entertain his body movements. "As for who I am, well you would be correct in that I am not a Morrimian minister, I should look into that. I am an Ashokan Inquisitor. And I know what you're thinking, why am I stopping you from entering Morrim from Soto then? I have my reasons. Mostly this is the only stretch of swamp that connects Morrim to Ashoka, therefore making you a very suspicious old man." |
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| Zeno | Jun 15 2014, 09:28 AM Post #11 |
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τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν.
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Why did this useless creature float? Zeno wished he could float; it would be easier on his aching joints, it would make getting home so much less tiresome. His muscles felt dry, his mouth and throat felt thick and hot against the growing chill. His eyes blinked tiredly; it felt like his eyelids creaked with every movement. He had the bad luck to get caught on an island overrun by giants, he had the bad luck to get stuck at a tavern surrounded by magically aggressive animals, and now this. The Taciturn Philosophers said that you never took a bath with the full hope that it would go just as planned, just so you could never be disappointed if it didn't. Perhaps he should have walked his long way home, across countries and swamps, thinking that inevitably an Ashokan Inquisitor would come floating and bobbing along just to delay him further. Sometimes the actual turns of events defied imagination. He found Dalbhack's feet barring his way, so he grabbed them and thrust them away as if he was opening a heavy door. "You're a very suspicious creature yourself, acting outside of your jurisdiction in this way. As you have no real authority here, except for whatever your swollen ego gives you, I'd consider this harassment. There's no guards around, so I seem to have no option but to engage in a citizen's arrest if this harassment continues." |
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| Dalbhack | Jun 17 2014, 06:04 AM Post #12 |
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The pooka floated back a few feet at the shove, a tiny bit of amusement flickering in those white eyes. It was always interesting for him to see what people would attempt when they could actually touch him. Of course it was also entertaining to watch people flail as they tried to touch him when he was intangible. He had one instance where a drunken man had repeatedly tried to hit him not understanding why his fists kept missing; he’d been too drunk to notice that they were just passing through the delighted pooka. Then there was the small matter of being careful when he invited others to be able to hit him, some people just took one hit and ran with it; he did not like those people. Those people with their attempt to end everything with a single blow, where was the fun in that? Dal enjoyed a drawn out ending for people, particularly the ones he got to torture. It was a bit different when it came to war though, he supposed, then you didn’t want to draw out a fight longer than necessary. “Citizen’s arrest? Is there even such a thing,” asked the pooka blinking out of his thoughts of war and torture, tangibility and intangibility, “I’d also really like to know how to plan on doing such a thing. An old man, a dog, and a fire breathing chicken…sounds like the start to a very poorly planned joke. Ah! I see now, you are just that. It must really be a drag to be you.” |
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| Zeno | Jul 21 2014, 03:48 PM Post #13 |
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τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν.
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Zeno lost his temper. It wasn't his proudest moment, and surely he would some day feel slightly ashamed for it, but he would always have a way of rationalising the idea that certain people just deserved to be beaten up. He sucked in a few short breaths through his nostrils and time, at his command, slowed down. The pooka's voice dragged, hovering on his last few words and, quick as a whip, Zeno lifted his cane. He lashed out at the floating man, and by the time that was down, time had slowed further, moving like treacle. Zeno, however, did not: he leaned around and aimed another smarting blow at the pooka, then another and another. As time grew slower around him, the more likely he was to actually hit the pooka. Towards the end of the thirty second time dilation, Zeno was little more than a blur, whirling around the pooka and lashing out with his cane. When Zeno let go of his mental trick, he had carried Cyno away from the pooka and deposited her next to Gorgo's cage, which he was ready to pick it up if he had to run. Still, he brandished his cane like it was a club, his hard eyes taking in whatever damage he had done to his enemy. "I have more tricks up my sleeve," he said, his voice raised over Cyno's confused whimpers. The dog circled around, evidently unsure as to how she had gotten several feet away from where she had been earlier, but she seemed to decide that it was all the pooka's fault and so began to growl and bark, her teeth bared. |
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| Dalbhack | Jul 29 2014, 09:50 AM Post #14 |
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Dalbhack lived for the moment when someone finally lost their temper. He however was not always prepared for it, and perhaps that was his biggest downfall in life. Most likely it would result in the end of his life at some point as well. For now it seemed he would receive a well-deserved caning by an old man. The first strike was indeed quite unexpected and the most dumbfounded expression found its way on to the Pooka’s face followed quickly by an expression of pain and indignation. Dalbhack was too confused and dazed to try and phase into an intangible entity and suffered quite a few good blows from the old man’s cane, not to mention the whole disorienting, time slowing trick the old man pulled. What was with all these crazy people and their crazy magics? Not that he could actually compare it to anyone or anything he had encountered recently. In fact he really didn’t interact with that many magic using hooligans on a daily basis; unless you counted Sabe which he didn’t. That was a whole other category of hooligan. Old man hooligans with canes, which did not happen, well ever. Perhaps hooligan wasn’t the right word either; the man had been minding his own business after all. If anyone in this picture was a hooligan it was the Pooka himself. Dal had curled up in the air protecting his core, which just meant more hits to his arms, legs and unfortunately head. Now he did not bruise easily but he was certain a number of those hits were going to result in bruising later on. Frowning deeply he uncurled and looked at the old man with confusion and like he’d just taking a bite out of something particularly sour. “Your one of those crazy old men that sits on their porch and yells at the kids to get off his lawn, aren’t you!?” he grumbled rubbing at a mark on his arm. Surprisingly he was not upset by this beat down; in fact he was a little impressed and had some weird new found respect for this strange old man. “Go take your dog and your stupid chicken and get out of here before I change my mind.” |
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| Zeno | Aug 7 2014, 02:29 PM Post #15 |
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τὰ ὄντα ἰέναι τε πάντα καὶ μένειν οὐδέν.
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Zeno was pleased to see the man uncurling gingerly, clearly in pain. He hid a small but smug smile in his beard and said, "It wouldn't matter if I were. The point here is that someone decided to get in my way." He didn't particularly like being given leave to go on ahead as if he was still under the other's authority, but he decided to take it. The last rays of sun were yet to be quenched on the hidden horizon and he needed to take this chance to get the hell away from this idiot before finding some dry spot to lie down on for the night. Zeno hefted up Gorgo's cage, eliciting a brief squawk. Cyno had settled down into a low, continuous growling. "Well, good-night sir. I hope you'll keep your policing within your own country." With that he swept past, his hand tight on his cane. He felt he couldn't trust the Pooka to not do something awful when he had his back turned, so his ears were attuned to any noise behind him, to any warning growls from Cyno. He just wanted to lie his aching bones down and get some sleep, then head on home. |
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