Hug the Children with your Nuclear Arms

"This is all the Ministry will be sending for now," Jericho said in an oddly expressionless tone. "We have had several false alarms in the past, as well as other attempts that were easily thwarted with numbers fewer than what you see here. If the situations worsens, others will be sent in as well."

"Does anyone have any vodka?" Journey asked bluntly. "I really could go for some right now. Whiskey even if I have to." Tynan sighed, well aware of Journeys drinking problem. The only thing that bothered him was that she didn't try to hide it. 'Don't give her any,' Inali mouthed as the six of them - not counting Jericho - started to weave themselves through the crowd, mingling and getting to know their new allies.

((I won't make profiles for these guys, but I might do a quick list in the profiles section of each one, what they look like, their basic personality, as well as maybe a quirk or two.))

"Oh believe me, it's going to get worse," Nathifa said. "They've so far only destroyed a couple of towns, but their ultimate goal is world destruction."

((sorry for shortpost, a part of my brain just died))

"As I have stated before," Jericho said in that same tone. "There have been several attempts at world destruction in the past, most of them rather..." He trailed off for a moment, as if unable to find the right word. "Pitiful."

Journey moved through the crowd, asking anyone shady looking enough for any kind of alcohol. Tynan kept on her tail, calmly advising anyone not to give it to her. Most didn't understand him however, since his warning consisted of, "Ne lui donnez pas tout, s'il vous plait." However, the shaking of his head and no guestures of his hands pretty much got his point across.

"What's pitiful is that only a few people so far have chosen to help us," Nathifa replied. "If no one lifts a finger against them then world domination becomes all too easy." She wasn't angry, just a little disappointed at how many people had joined them. Even though she knew that their group had a small chance of winning if there ever was another attack on them, the people who refused to fight would eventually be killed anyway. Nathifa didn't want to think about how many people they would lose just defending themselves the next time the horsemen attacked them.

Jericho merely shrugged. "I believe I got my point across the first two times I mentioned the false alarms, so I don't feel the need to repeat myself thrice."

"Understood," Akaelin said, tired of the subject. Jericho then took his leave, and the wolf let out a small breath. "Let's just continue on to Kanten," he said to his mate. "We'll worry about forces once we get there."

((I won't be on tonight. I come home from work at 10:30 and I start school tomorrow. >-<))

((bwahahaha, mine starts on the ninth XP. I saw Taking Woodstock today, it was good))

Nathifa nodded and sighed. "I wish they would make some kind of big move already," she said. "I'm tired of waiting around to see when and how they're going to strike. If they'll bring out a lot of people to confront us all or simply try to pick off our leaders one by one. I hope that Kanten is still standing when we get there. Hel's sure to know that the town helped us in the last war and might have decided to destroy it.'

((I won't be on tonight, but I will be tomorrow after school. I get home around 3:00 - 3:30 my time.))

Akaelin frowned slightly at the possibility. Nathifa was right about one thing though, the anicipation was worse than the pospect of the fight itself. Vaguely, he could hear Journey arguing with Tynan, but blocked it from his mind.

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"C'est assez, Journey. Vous venez de rencontrer ces gens et il n'ya aucune raison pour que vous puissiez faire le tour de demander de l'alcool."

Journey huffed, folded her arms across her chest, and turned her back on Tynan.

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"We'll just have to travel there and find out," Akaelin said with a sigh, not sure of how long it was until they would reach the city.

((since Kanten is your design, you get the honor of dictating how long it takes to get there. XD I was thinking, maybe we should make a map of the taof world. Like... I'll do the eastern half (since that's where most of my characters are from) and you do the western half, and we'll just split the north and the south.))

((no idea whatsoever as to how long it will take to get there XD We definitely should make a map, I'm in kinda a mappy mood since I've started sketching one for arcaeus))

Quill snapped her head around to look behind her again as she heard another noise. Her senses told her that there was nothing in the forest but wilderness and wildlife, but her instinct told her differently. There was a very high possibility that someone was following them, perhaps a thief or something even more malicious. Whoever they were, they were very adept at concealing their presence.

((Ares said she'd be on tonight, so I'm trying to help her with introducing her character again))

Ares looked over her shoulder as she walked with the Rebellion. She thought that she sensed eyes coming from the forest on her but couldn't be sure. She gripped her spear a little tighter as she walked preparing for something to perhaps attack the group. She had been disappointed just a little bit before when they hadn't gone into Salinas farther toward Paloma than they did. It was her homeland and she wanted to go back there but knew she couldn't stay there when the apocalypse was coming.

Ares looked back again as she for sure now heard a noise. Something had broken out of the trees a ways back and now was running toward them to catch up with the group. Only when it got closer could she make out what the animal was - it was a white stag.

Quill spun around at the sound of hooves, even before the animal came into sight. It took her just a few moments to realize that the hoofbeats didn't have the completely solid sound of a horse's, meaning that they were cloved instead. So either the horsemen were riding giant goats, or the wildlife was getting a little too friendly. Either way, one stag on its own, even if it was to be a were instead of a dumb animal, wouldn't be aything worth worrying about.

A white stag was nothing to Akaelin. Though rare, he had seen them before. However, what confused him a bit, was that it had wondered so close. "It's not a stag," he said calmly. Deer simply were not that bold or friendly, plain and simple. It was NOT possible. Henceforth, it had to be some kind of were, henkilo, or elain.

"Jeez." Faorn exclaimed, rubbing the back of her head. "There's my daily dose of curiosity. Enthea brought Gryphons, and more. Wow." She observed one of them, which she thought, was Journey. Journey, what an... odd name. Faorn thought. She smiled and waved at whoever of the 6 looked at her. Her eyes widened.

Sarian, who had swooped down in her hawk form, rested on Faorn's shoulder. Hello, Faorn. The Elain hawk told her. How are you?

"Fine." Faorn replied, stroking her guardian's wing as if she were her pet. "I want to get to know one of them."

((What happened to the other scenes back in the old tAoF board, with Nerrea and Tamorayhn, and all that jazz? o_0))

((Well, Namera was Wolfbane's character, and she kinda jumped ship on the rp))

Quill continued to ignore the stag as it headed towards their group. Most likely it was a person that had been sent out as a runner from a town that had heard of their presence. She assumed that it was headed for the front of the group to seek out their leaders, which in this case would be Akaelin and Nathifa

((I'm going to wait for ares before posting.))

Ares was unaware of the stag until it took a sudden turn and lept at her. She heard the faint sound of a heavy spear cutting through the air just in time to whip her own shorter one out to defend herself and block the blow with the sheathed blade. Quills instinctively shot popped into view on her arms and face as she expected to set eyes on an enemy. Instead the face that looked back at her was as familiar to her as a father's face was to his daughter. She had been planning on looking for him if they got any closer to Paloma, but she hadn't since they had just gone inside the border. "Bairon!" Ares shouted excitedly, dropping her guard but still forgetting to revert back to normal.

"I'd give you a hug, but even predators have been known to die from infection caused by porcupine quills," Bairon replied. He had a heavy Spanish accent from living in Salinas all of his life. "El Lobo Matado told me that there was a group called the Rebellion that came to seek help. I figured you'd be with them looking for battles for your training. But that spear still looks a little heavy for you."

Akaelin knew he had been right when the stag shifted form. Despite Ares' comfort with the man, he was still a bit wary.

"Bairon, is it?" Akaelin asked, stepping through the crowd to face the older man. "It seems you know Ares here." He had been glad to get out of Salinas, and was a bit ticked at the heavy spanish accent. "What brings you to our midst? Are you simply looking for a lost aquaintence, or do you have other buisness here?" Ares might know the man, but Akaelin most certainly did not.

Of course he was going to ask a few questions.

"Hi... you're... Journey, right? I'm Faorn! Nice to meet you." Faorn held out a hand and grinned. Ugh, she hoped that Journey didn't think she was some weird, crazy girl.

((Ahhhhh, short post!!! I don't know what to write ))

"Ah, forgive my rudeness," Bairon said, giving Akaelin a small bow as was custom in the Paloma region. "I cannot stand idely by as the end of the world rushes in while my apprentice fights against it. I would relenquish my title as spearmaster if I did such a dishonorable thing as that. After I sent Ares off to find her own training I figured that she would gravitate toward wherever the biggest fight was taking place."

Quill nodded, able to confirm that Are's guest was who he said he was. Chalca wasn't that far of a distance away from Paloma and there were a couple occasions where she had seen him. Her and Kitai had both tried out at the ages of ten to get his apprentice spot. Not that either of them would have taken it seriously if they had atually gotten it at the time.

((posting from my new phone XD so there may be an abundance of tyos))

((Ugh!! What kind of phone is it? I have the second version of the verizon chocolate.))

Akaelin saw Quills head nod out of the corners of his eyes, but the wigers word meant little to nothing to him. He turned his gaze back on Bairon, an amused grin gracing itself across his features. "Why didn't you seek your apprentice out before now?" Akaelin asked. "Were you preoccupied, unworried, or do your tracking skills simply suck?" He didn't care if Quill and Ares knew this man, because he didn't care about Quill and Ares. He wasn't going to let a complete stranger into his pack without first questioning and testing him. It didn't matter who he was associated with.

((it's a Samsung Gravity 2. But T Mobile service still sucks XD. just got back from an awesome marching band party that turned from a guitar hero tournament into a strobe light dance party. After about an hour's worth of constant exposure to a strobe I feel a little high))

Kitai looked back from her seat on Leartes to see what the commotion near the back of the group was about. "Does it really matter?" she sighed. She too recognized the man from the time when she and her sister were just kids, though he obviously looked older, about thirty now by her calculations. "We need all the help we can get and i'm sure that he is a more than capable warrior."

While Kitais opinion meant just a bit more to him than Quills, Akaelin still didn't trust this man. But yes, it did matter to him. Sai had let Quill back into their midst, and look how that had turned out. "You're sure, or you know?" he asked Kitai, though he didn't take his eyes off of this Bairon guy. "I'd like to see what you are capable first, if you don't mind." Akaelin honestly didn't care if Bairon minded or not. He was just saying the 'if you don't mind' part for formalities sake. "A quick little skirmish. Nothing serious."

"If you really want to test him, go ahead," Kitai said. She was unsure if Akaelin was just about to get his ass handed to him or not. But then again, her opinion of the spearmaster's fighting skills had been made through a child's eyes. Kitai wondered if she would think differently of him now that she had a lot of fighting experience herself.

((blargh, I was unexpectedly whisked away to my aunt's cabin. No reception, so I couldn't even post from my phone"

"Oh no, not me," Akaelin said. "Someone a little closer to his age."

A feral growl sounded itself from Arlyn, who seemed a bit displeased - more with the age joke than having to spar with someone. Akaelin chuckled bitterly, shaking his head in amusement. He then became serious once more, and turned his attention back to Bairon. "Do you accept?"

((I finally got pg 1 of Marionette all drawn out. Now I just need to color it. ^^))