Bittersweet Candy Bowl

”.. Mortals Mortals Mortals.” Lily shook her head almost rolling her eyes at the thought “For someone so worried about being judged for what you are… you seem to spend a lot of time reminding everyone of it….. Haven’t you been paying attention my dear? You’ve been making all the same mistakes despite being anything -but- mortal… it isn’t the ‘world of mortals’ you have to be worried about….”

She glanced over to her with a smile again, still sitting quite comfortably in her little spot. Amused that this vampires ‘mortal’ excuses, anger, love and frustration…. were honestly making her seem all the more human.

“It’s the world period my dear. It’s just how things are….as much of a pain in the ass as it is. But it has it’s benefits trust me…”

Lilys ears gave a twitch, and the annoyance came back to her face, recognizing the voice in an instant “… Speaking of fools…*Sigh* that he does.”

(Go get her, dumbass. )
Theresa, having given up on finding Amaja, was sleeping under a tree when Paulson came over and woke her up.
“Ugh… What a night!” She looks up and grins at him. “Though with your face as the first one I see when I wake up, it makes things a little more tolerable…”

Finally finding Theresa he walks up to her, and chuckles as he hears her complimenting Paulson
Uhh- sorry if I’m interupting you two love birds but Miss Lily asked me to remind you it’s time to go on another scouting run.
*sighs* Please try not to cause as much chaos as last time please.
He shows a small grin as he sees she’s still more concerned with Paulson then taking orders
If you got injured who would be able to take care of Paulson?

The archer had planned to give Theresa an ear full of how she left him in the forest, but instead blushed at the complement. When Albert stopped his plans to speak yet again, he have the knight a glare before once again facing Theresa. Can I talk to you for a minute before you leave?

Theresa blinks in response to Paulson’s question, completely ignoring Albert’s comment.
“Sure. What do you want to talk about?”

flips down out a tree near sir Albert

I was wondering when it would be time for us to perform another mission. I’m prepared and ready, a good scout will be benefical to my health anyways.

(teehee still at work for awhile just posting during lunch, I’ll let Theresa control me unless I can pop in later. I’d just appreciate if she doesn’t freak out again)

Albert flinches back at McCardell appearing, trying to catch his breath afterwards
You know…
I hate it when you…
Do that.
He straightens himself off and walks away, glowing a little red from both rage and embarrasment

The archer rolled his eyes and pulled her a bit to the side and out of ear shot of McCardell and Albert.

Can you try to be careful this time when you go on the scouting mission? Last time you brought a small army straight to our door and we are not rested enough to take on another one.
He crossed his arms and looked to the side before mumbling. Besides I won’t be there if something happens to you. So stealthy this time, alright?

Amaja stirred in her slumber, rolling faintly from side to side. The light of the day seeping through her make shift bed. Setting a hand on each side of the vines she pushes them to the side and sits up from her perch. A makeshift hammock spans across a gap between the tree’s just under the canopy of dense brush overhead. Grabbing a hold of two of the vines under her, she holds on tight as the rest of the vines retreat into the tree, slowly being lowered towards the ground below by the two in her hands. Planting a foot lightly to the ground she loosens her grip to the vines, with a sudden jerk they spiral back up to the canopy above and snap back to the tree. She looked around momentarily, apparently she’d gotten further from camp than she’d realized and hurriedly made her way back in the direction of the campsite hoping she didn’t get left behind.

((Hopefully this helps in the fact no one could find Amaja when they were looking for her :I I honestly never left camp but since EVERYONE was like DERPADERP WHERE’D SHE GO, I had to figure a way to play along =_= ))

Theresa ruffles Paulson’s hair. “Don’t worry about it! There won’t be any guard towers where we’re going. I’ll be fine!”

Paulson pushes her hand away annoyed and with a serious expression on his face. I fairly sure that’s the exact same thing you told me before you went and sent smoke bombs through out that village.

He sighed and looked back towards the camp. It’s just….be careful, alright? He looked at her with a sweet smile. Or I’ll have to come bail you out again.

“Hehe…” Clasps her hand on Paulson’s shoulder. “Good to know you’ve got my back, playboy. Just try not to wet yourself again when shit goes down.”

(You ruined it!!)

Paulson glared at her for mentioning his not so brave moment and angrily shrugged her hand off. Yeah, yeah. If you keep treating your friends like this you won’t have very many that will watch you back when you get yourself in deep shit. Good luck on your mission, Teaty.

He turned and walked away slowly, thinking to himself about what a long day it had been already.

(Everytime i go to sleep shit happens)

The White Mage began wandering the forest

Watches Paulson leave in a huff. Humph… Someone’s pissy today. Can’t blame him after what just happened, though. Walks off in search of McCardell. Meh, he’ll calm down after we get back.

Nothing. Not a single sign of the tabby. Susanna, long having passed the first pillars, has moved from earthwork to earthwork in the hopes of calling her friend back to the camp. Yet the further she moved in, the less angular the protrusions became, and Susanna’s quiet confidence in her earlier assumptions faltered. She draws to a stop.

“Don’t tell me they’re natural,” she groans.

With a sigh, she turns back towards the camp. It’s not clear quite where the camp is, but Susanna’s sudden worry and embarrassment is quickly dulled, as she notices her own trail in the leaf litter.

She begins to track herself backwards, moving at a gentle jog.
“Paulson, eat your heart out,” she grins.

The archer started to enter the camp but then realized that, in the confusion of the last few days, he hadn’t had a bath yet. Taking this brief moment of calm, he headed towards the stream, making sure he stayed away from where he saw the girl this morning. He had no desire to have an even angrier Lieselotte on his tail. As he reached the stream, he plunged in fully clothed.

Might as well beat two birds with one stone. He spoke to no one as he enjoyed the refreshing cold water wash over him.

whats your favorite fruit

Makar reached the stream, quickly turning his gaze to the vampiress. Silence. Dead silence. Prefect silence if not for the sound of the stream’s flow and the nasty cold winds following the water’s course, blowing against the knight as if the nature itself were against him. His bravery quickly turned into desperation for a second as he notices how angry she was for his presence, but then he closed his hands tightly into fists and stepped firmly foward. The Lord’s courage could be clearly seen in his eyes.

Lady Lieselotte, I didn’t came here to apologize. His tone was firm and secure, representing the certainty he had in his words.

What I’ve done so far was stupidity, no doubt I’m dumb, I have done too many mistakes to deserve any hint of forgiviness, I have made you and many others suffer for my brainless deeds, my constant lack of usefulness brought everyone the worst of disgraces in the meanest of times… Suddenly he raised his tone, filling a chill in his spine produced his own words while tears started to appear in his eyes, but refusing to fall. … and I even took you away from your perfect immortal world to feel sorrow and anger in the mortal’s world— But!! He interrupted himself loudly, raising a finger from his tightly closed fist and keeping it pointed upwards, making the sign of attention.

The winds stopped blowing. The stream’s flow turned mute. Lord Makar forgot Lily and Mollith’s existence. For the brave knight, only him and Lieselotte were remaining in existence.
I am man enough to recognize and face every single detail of all of my failures!! Don’t you think less person would give up of living after doing all these foolishness?! His finger trembled. I never gave up of befriending you, aknowledged you were a blood-thirsty vampiress! He raised a second finger. I never gave up of retrieving of Sword of Light! He raised a third finger. I never gave up of defeating the vicious guardian of the holy blade! He raised a fourth finger. I never gave up of making you be accepted by people! He raised his hand’s remaining finger. I never gave up of defeating Reinhild! He raised the other hand and a sixth finger. I never gave up of avenging my fallen comrades! He raised a seventh finger. I never gave up of avenging Sunday’s death! He raised his eighth finger. I never gave up of keeping you alive! He raised his nineth finger. I never gave up of surviving alongside you! He raised his final finger. I never gave up of keeping my love for you even stronger than my blessed fighting spirit!! He closed his hands into fists again, tears finally flowing through his face. I didn’t… I don’t… and… I. Will. Not. Ever. Give up!! His last words seemed to echo throughout the whole stream course.

He fell on his knees and placed a hand on his chest, breathing heavily while facing the ground. Shortly after, he looked up to the vampiress again, now showing sadness in his eyes. His tone became soft and sweet.
Even so… ask yourself… wasn’t it worthy, after all? Weren’t the good moments we had together worthy of our sorrow? Even with all the awful happenings we both faced… we kept our heads up and remained strong untill the end… to gleefully enjoy the happiness of the tomorrow. I, myself, am glad for every single moment we spend together… even the meanest of them… because I believed… and I still believe… that in the end… we would be happy together.

He got up slowly, still looking at her in the eyes. His serene eyes meeting with the vampiress’, while he smiled warmly. You can hate me… despise me… menace me… hurt me… harm me… bite me… but… I will… always… deeply love you… Lady Lieselotte. His voice was gentle and softly sweet.

He turned back. The makar turned his head slightly to the side, being able to see her with the corner of his eyesight. Now his mind was open to his surrounding. The wind was blowing to the oposite side from before and the stream’s flow was slightly slower than before. I don’t want you to forgive me. What I really want… is that you understand… that I love you and that I’m sorry.

He looked foward, frowning, and started to walk away.
…
I still hope she will forgive me someday…

mine are plums

((Vin, you deserve this:
))

hi

(Okay fine, jeez… )

Hannibal, who has spent even more time dozing up in a tree, alone with his thoughts could not help but hear the voice of Makar through the wilderness. His internal monologue broken, thoughts scattered to the corners of his mind, Hannibal jumped from his perch and stretched.

Nothing seems to have happened that requires my immediate attention. Might as well find someone to have conversation with.

(VINS CRITICALLY SUCCEEDS.

Epic post man.)

Keith wakes up after only a few hours of sleeping, but feeling completely rested despite that, since he had been unconscious for most of the previous day.

I wonder where everyone is right now…

He opens his eyes. They seem to be able to detect the light, as his pupils contracted painfully when he did. He is still incapable of seeing though, it’s not his eyes that are malfunctioning, but the part of his brain designed to process the image signal. He shuts his eyes tight again.

Damn! If only I could see. I have some things I have to ask to that geomancer, but how am I even supposed to look for her like this? I better ask for some help.

He pays attention to his ears, to listen to somebody, anybody. He hears Hannibal’s voice, and heads in his direction.

Ah… it’s that guy. I hope he’s not mad at me anymore.

Hey there. Long time no see. Heh.

Paulson is momentarily broken from his minutes of relaxation by Makar’s shouts, but he quickly ignores it and continue to enjoy the water a bit more. I’m so not getting involved with anything that doesn’t need my immediate attention.

He finally removes his clothes and hangs them on a near by tree so the wind and early morning sun can dry and warm them. After he is done with this task he jumps back into the water to enjoy it a bit more. The chill is refreshing and helps him remember that everything that has happened so far was real, and not a dream.

Finally he pulls himself from the water and lays out comfortably on a rock. Basking in the sun, he watches as the clouds move over head and plays a game he hasn’t thought about in years.

That one is a dog. And…that’s a rabbit. Hey! That one there looks like a handsome Archer! In other words, me! He laughs at his own joke and smiles to himself, just enjoying the peace.

At first sight of Makar, she was furious. She refused to look at him, staring angrily at the ground. She growled as he said he was not there to apologize, digging her claws into her crossed arms.
Then why did you even come Makar!?
She snapped angrily at him, still refusing to look at him. Listening to him speak of his mistakes, his faults, and at the mere mention of bringing her into the world of mortals made her cringe as she recalled all these moments. She opens her mouth to speak, but Makar stops her before she can get a word out. He begins to list his faults, and the declare his dedication to his mission, his morales, his friends and even her. Her ears drop miserably with every point as she remembers Makar in every point, his steadfast determination to see things through to the end. The outraged mask she seemed to keep over her face softened.
Makar, I-
He cuts her off again, as he goes on about the true value of the moments they shared, their highs and lows. She recalls their perfect synchronization as they worked as one in their fight against Reinhild, then her terror when they were torn away from each other. The exhilaration and the terror, the silent happiness and obvious anger, she wondered if those scarce sweet moments were truly important. Then she remembered the loneliness. Wandering alone, no one to share the even fewer gleeful moment she had.
I don’t want that. Being a lonesome wanderer, I cannot go back to that. I left that world behind, and there is no returning. His sheer dedication to what he believes, even now he tries to mend the damage. It’s exactly as I told him that night long ago, I don’t want to hate him. I don’t want to despise him, that is the last that I want.
She looks up to see Makar walking off. She smiles as she starts to walk towards him, she calls out his name and laughs.

Makar, you truly are a fool. That was an apology, and I accept.

Hannibal looks over at Keith, whom he hasn’t even seen since before their flight from the village.

Long time no see indeed. But that time would be shorter if you would open your eyes, eh?

I… seem to be temporarily blinded… I can’t see a thing since that fight in the village. But I’m sure I’ll recover eventually, I was deaf when I woke up as well, so I suppose the same will happen with my sight.

Anyways… how are you two lovebirds doing?

He lets out a short laugh as he says that.

Even though Keith can’t see it, Hannibal’s face turns into a slight scowl.

We aren’t. She spurns my every advance. I haven’t seen her today, she disappeared off into the wilderness much like I did.

She spots Keith and hannibal as she is wandering.

Hi, I may have gotten turned around slightly. She laughs lightly

How is everyone else? Did anyone get hurt while i was gone?,i’m sorry i was away for so long
She stands there waiting for a response from either one,she didn’t really know if they had an answer condisering it looked like Keith was blind and from what she heard,hannibal was a drunkard

I need to know what happened while i was gone,i shouldnt have seperated from them like that.

As Theresa looks for McCardell, she bumps into Susanna trying to find her way back to camp.
“Oh, hey Susanna! Got a bit lost, eh?”

As Susanna looks for Amaja, she gets tripped up and shot into deep undergrowth by Theresa scouting her way out from the camp.
“Yes. Yes, I suppose I did,” she replies, spitting leaves.

His face turned serious when he heard Hannibal’s response.

Oh… I’m sorry to have asked in that case. It just seemed to me that day that you were having a really good time together, so I assumed you had ended up together.

Did something go wrong along the way?

He recognizes the white mage’s voice.

I’m feeling fine for now, but thank you for asking.

Hannibal turns his attention to Jasmina.

I wouldn’t know, I’ve been hiding in treetops fighting off psychological trauma all day while Keith here’s blind. Obviously we aren’t the men with the answers you’re looking for.

Theresa grins sheepishly and scratches the back of her head “Hehe, sorry about that…” She then holds her hand out to Susanna. “Need a hand?”

Still on a tree stump cleaning his sword,he heard Makar’s yell from stream’s direction.
Well,i hope he is trying to talk to the vampire lady.
Konar finish to clean his sword and put it to it’s rest place.

So i was right,i better look for the others

Oh right,good to know you’re okay Keith.

She listens to hannibal and turns her attention to him

Psychological trauma?, Why?

A look of scepticism roams over Susanna’s face, but is rapidly replaced by realism. The thorns here are sharp. She reaches up and, much to her amazement, Theresa pulls her upright without an effort.

“Right,” Susanna mumbles, covering her surprise. “I guess they sent you after me, then?”

Makar turned the corner of his eyesight back to Lieselotte after listening her call while he had a confused expression on his face as the vampiress released her laughter. After hearing she call him a fool, he stares at the ground, and closed his eyes when she pointed he did, in fact, apologized, but opened his eyes again and turned back at her, surprised by hearing what she just said.

Almost unable to believe in what he heard, he took slow steps towards her, stopping right in front of her, looking down to keep looking in her blue eyes. The knight’s eyes were trembling by surprise. The Lord smiled softly. He gently guided his right hand to her back and then to the back of her head. He closed his eyes and came closer, kissing her.

It’s a long story from a long time ago. Short version is that I am a victim of “intense magic assisted psychological trauma.” That’s what the healer called it. What happened is that some bad mages got hold of yours truly and treated my head like their personal playground. The run in with that…thing opened up some old scars.

“Actually, I was off looking for McCardell. I had no idea you were all the way out here! You know, you’re a little too good at making yourself hard to find… Believe me, I should know.”
Theresa places a hand on the Burmese’s shoulder. “You were out looking for Amaja, right?”

(FUCK, I FORGOT TO CHANGE MY NAME BACK, AKDJKLZAPJFK,LJFKLSDF,DFPJOEOW!)

“Yes, well, it’s important we’ve got our geomancer,” Susanna blushes. “She wasn’t in the camp, and I was just… checking where she’d got to.”

“Now, McCardell…” A different, keener look comes into her eyes. “Where’s he got off to now?”

After hanging around a player like Paulson for as long as she has, Theresa recognized that look in her eye in an instant. Considering the subject of Susanna’s affections, she was a bit dumbfounded.
“Wait…him? Seriously? That little weirdo? Why him?”

(*facepalm* God I suck. I’m just going to go cry in the emo corner now, okay? Okay.)

She almost gasps as she hears this

Oh wow,that’s horrible i’m sorry.. I wonder who this healer was,perhaps i should ask another time though.

Well then ,She sighs and looks around I guess i’ll leave you alone if that’s what you want.
And with that she walks ahead to look for the others to find out what happened in her absence.

Keith overhears Susanna and Theresa’s conversation, who were now pretty close to the camp.

Amaja is the name of that geomancer… Now that I remember, I was looking for her too.

Hey Hannibal, can you help me find that geomancer? I desire to have few words with her.

Susanna, not being exactly slow herself, is quick to realise a better master of deception than herself. As silence would only beget more questions, she decides to be honest to the rogue.

“It’s not quite like THAT, but… I don’t know. He has a certain authority, a certain cold charm… and underneath that, he’s really a nice person. Incredibly clever, too - he really helped me with my writing when I needed it.

“I’m not sure whether I really… you know… him, but he’s a great person to know. A great friend…”

She shakes her head, as if clearing thoughts. “Guess we’d better find him, anyhow. Lead on.”

Ah good, no questions, no odd look, probably only had one errant thought before leaving.

Huh? Sure, I’ll help you find the geomancer.

And so the two join the “going to find Amaja” club.

The Ragdoll mix rolled her eyes and sighed.
“A great friend, huh? Well think carefully whether you really want to take things to the next level.” She looks off to the side, lost in thought. “I sure as hell didn’t…”

Paulson, finally dry and refreshed from the experience of the last few days gathered his clothes and quickly dressed himself before heading back towards camp.

As he entered the clearing though, he noticed it was oddly empty.

Where did everyone go? He asked the few people still sitting around.