Hug the Children with your Nuclear Arms

"Him," Byrani spat angrily, her glare still fixated on Arlyn, who had finally chewed through his ropes. Unlike the Elain, the Henkilo were incapable of using magic, and thusforth couldn't heal themselves through it. Several pairs of eyes turned in his direction, some proud, some in shock that he would do that to anyones face. "What?" he asked innocently. "She wanted to kill me!"

"Oh, I was not going to kill you!" Byrani huffed in response, growing more and more agitated by the minute. "I was trying to bring you home."

"And kill me!"

"I was not!"

"That's not what you said that night."

"Are you guys going to stand here and argue, or are we going to have story time?" Vane asked curiously. Personally, he wanted to know what had happened, or what Byrani had done to cause Arlyn to give her those scars.

"Ooo! Story time!" Siva excitedly switched from sitting cross-legged on the floor to laying down with her head propped up on her hands. "Is this a good one? Is it epic?"

Quill stifled a laugh at the fifteen-year-old's use of the word epic in her question. "If it's not essential to our mission to hear this out now, maybe you could inform us of this while we travel."

((guess who's got insomnia again?))

"I never had any intention of informing you," Bryani said stiffly. "It's personal," Arlyn mumbled.

"And I'm not going anywhere with the likes of that reckless coward!" Bryani added, adding emphasis to the word reckless. "Reckless? How am I reckless?" Arlyn demanded. "You fucked up the entire balance dammit!" Bryani replied. "That was reckless and stupid, and inconsiderate!"

Arlyn didn't respond. Instead, he started walking, clearly a guesture of dismissal. More than anything, he just wanted to leave. But of course it wouldn't be that easy. "Don't you turn your back on me like that! I want a damn answer!" Bryani yelled after him. When Arlyn just continued walking, she seemed to snap. With an almost wolf like growl, she darted forward and lept at him, tackling him to the ground. Arlyn squirmed and rolled, trying to make sure that she didn't pin him beneath her.

"This is...slightly entertaining, slightly frustrating," Seff commented, watching the two older adults rolling on the ground like puppies. Still, it would probably be best if they just wore themselves out.

((I'll be available for a good portion of the day tomorrow. So if you hop on you'll probably see me here.))

((yeah, sorry, I had a busy day. Winterguard from 9-6 than the st olaf choir christmas festival. Yipe I'm tired))

"I agree," Quill said. "We should find something productive to do while those two settle their differences. Maybe we could meet whoever is the officer in highest command in the naval corps or something like that."

Siva on the other hand, seemed to be watching the scuffle excitedly, occasionally shouting out advice and encouragement.

"His office is down that hallway and to to the right," Riven said, pointing to the passage in front of them. Unfortunately, Arlyn and Byrani were in the way. Vane clung to the wall as he passed the, trying not to get caught in the crossfire. Once they had done that, finding the Naval Fleet Generals office was easy. It was much smaller than Kains with less books. It was very untidy, as if the person didn't really care about upkeep. The desk on the far wall was unoccupied, much to the cheetahs displeasure. "Where's he at?" he asked Riven, who didn't answer. Instead, he walked past the Elain and took a seat at the desk.

"Naval Fleet General Riven. Now what the hell do you want?"

Quill laughed at Riven's change in attitude. "Cool it, I just thought that seeing whoever we would be dealing with would be more productive than watching two grown people wrestle on the floor like puppies," she said. "And I guess since you're with us now, we should inform you of the rest of our forces. Not counting the warriors we have from the Rebellion, we have additional fighters from Kanten as well as forces from Satan and Set. Any business you wish to deal with Set's forces should be done through me. At least that's what I'm supposed to say. But really, just go to Akaelin/Arlyn for anything."

"Satan and Set?" Riven echoed. "You sure this is the good side?" he added sarcasticly. He let out a long, irritated breath and rose to his feet. "This is such a hassle. I need a vacation."

"Sir, you just got off one," Kel pointed out. "Well I need another one," Riven snapped. "Go find Arik and tell him to rally up the fleet. I don't feel like doing it."

"Yes sir," Kel replied politely before she turned and left. Silently, Vane was wondering if this guy really was a general. He sure didn't seem like it, coming off as lazy and easily irritated. Still, if a person like Akaelin could lead a group of people, then pretty much anyone could. "Let's get out of here," Riven said, coming around to face the Rebellion. "We'll meet the others outside." He walked through the group and out to the elevator, occasionally mumbling the almost inaudible complaint.

While Quill, Kitai, and most of the other members of the group headed toward the elevator, Siva started for a window.

"The box thing annoys me," she said. "I hate pretending to fly. It's a lot better when you can feel the air going past you." With that, she threw herself out of the window, flaps of skin swiftly growling to link her arms to her body, forming wings that would almost have resembled bat's wings except for the thicker fur which flowed off the edges in fine wisps. And unlike a bat's wings, her wingbeats were nearly silent as she glided to the ground due to the fur on the edges, which acted like the feathers on the edge of an owl's wing.

"Ah, hell, window it is," Quill too ditched the line for the elevator and jumped out the window, not even bothering to slow her fall before landing like a cat on the street below.

Riven raised an eyebrow after Quill, making a mental note to stay away from her. It wasn't because he was intimidated by her apparent ability to jump out a window 24 stories high, but because he hated show-offy people. While those who couldn't fly - and even some who could but were just lazy - Vane was wondering if they would be waiting for Arlyn, or just leaving and hope that he caught up. As he rode down the elevator, several times he caught himself staring at Riven. Well...a part of Riven...that was behind him...and really fine. Dammit no! A guys ass was not fine. Girl asses were fine. Yes, yes that was right. Girls good, guys...wrong. Thankfully though, no one seemed to notice.

Once they were all out, a guy with blue black hair came up to Riven with little respect in comparison to Kel. "Most are gathered outside the gate," he said stiffly. "Some are still injured from last week and one got knocked up...sooo...."

Riven didn't really seem to care as he shrugged and shouldered his way past. More than anything he just wanted to leave.

"Shouldn't we wait for Arlyn?" Kitai asked. "I'm hoping that they aren't seriously fighting each other. What happened between the two of them anyway to make them like that?"

"don't know, don't care," Quill whistled and a faint roar sounded in the distance, signifying that her mount had heard her call.

"That was fun!" Siva joined in, commenting on the glide down. "But you broke a lot of your leg bones, didn't you? Should I heal you?" Siva was obviously oblivious to the fact that Quill was standing.

"Yep, but they're better. Nothing's worse than an awkward elevator ride."

"Well for one thing, you scar any womans face like that and she's gonna be pissed," Riven commented. Growing impatient, he mentally decided to give Arlyn a good five minutes to finish up whatever he was doing with Bryani, or he was just going to leave, damn whoever wanted to stay.

The horses were then brought to them from the stables, a young girl handing Kitai the reigns to hers. "I think something might've gotten into the stables," she said sheepishly. "Your horse got a bit spooked, but it's not hurt or anything," she added as if she felt bad.

A loud roar pierced through the air as a long tailed saber ran out the door that had been left open. On its back was a ruffled, but still alive Arlyn. In wolf form, he had his teeth dug into her neck, blood dripping out from the puncture wounds he had made. Bryani whipped her head around and grabbed the wolf by the scruff of his neck. Arlyn released his hold at the pain of two long saber teeth piercing his flesh and he was roughly torn from the sabers back. He rolled to his paws to face the big cat, teeth bared and hackles raised. Apart from a few scrapes, the only serious wound was the one on his back the saber had just caused. Byrani shifted back to human form, a hand automatically reaching up to touch the injury on her neck. Her breath came in short gasps and her right leg shook from pure nerves. "You...you get...the fuck out of here..." she wheezed through clenched teeth. "And don't you ever come back."

Quill took the reins of Kitai's horse and mounted up onto it, planning on leaving Leartes for her sister due to his smoother gate. "I take it that would be our cue to go," she said, nudging the horse forward with her heel.

Leartes appeared a few seconds later and approached Kitai after seeing that his master had already chosen another mount. He gave her a soft, affectionate butt with the tops of his curved horns and bent his knees so she could more easily mount him. If his master didn't plan on riding him, then he would settle for the one that had nearly the same scent as his master.

An assortment of scents assaulted him. The space was cramped and something sharp was poking at his side. It would have to do. This needed to be done now, before it was too late. And too late was coming up a bit too fast. He reeked of hay and sawdust from the stables, so his scent would go on undetected. He had damped his aura, so not even Akaelin or Nathifa would be able to sense him. In fox form, Yoko hid inside the saddlebags of Kitais mount. His breath quickened as the horse started to move, and voices began to speak.

“I take it that would be our cue to go,” someone said. It sounded vaguely like…Quill perhaps? But wasn’t this Kitais horse? Had something actually happened. Now that he was surrounded by the Rebellion, it took almost all of his willpower to keep his breath steady and aura down. He had to stay hidden until everyone was asleep, or he got a chance to sneak out of the bag - whichever came first.

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Arlyn barked before turning his back on Bryani with a flick of his tail, trotting off as if he didn’t have a care in the world. His back was throbbing in pain, but he would wait until he was out of Bryanis sight to heal himself. Once he was, he focused his energy into the skin on his back, willing it to knit together. It did so, but slowly. While the wound had healed, his back was still sore as if it was still there. Frankly, he sort of wished that he had dug his teeth into the sabers neck just a little bit deeper.

"That was cool!" Siva said, commenting on Arlyn's scuffle with Bryani. "I've never seen a saber-toothed tiger before! I've only seen animals as cool as that in some of the things I hunt down. But I had to kill those things, so I didn't really get to see them. Those chimeras were pretty dang cool too!." She looked around at the rest of the group, most of whom were on horseback. Feeling left out, she took a running start to leap up on Kitai's horse behind Quill, who didn't seem to mind her presence. "Actually I might like to fly later, that'd be fun." One of her feet hit a saddle bag as she adjusted her position.

Yoko sucked in his breath as Sivas foot knocked against him suddenly. He had made sure he was quiet, and with all the voices around, he would go unheard. At least, he probably would go unheard.

He heard the person saying that they might go flying later, and Yoko sort of wished she hadn't jumped on the horse in the first place.

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'She's a saber-toothed bitch,' Arlyn growled, panting from his previous fight. It was rather obvious that he didn't find Bryani as interesting as Siva did.

"Do we get a story on this?" Kitai asked, "Or would you rather keep that to yourself?" She pulled Leartes up toward the front of the group to walk side by side with the horse that her sister and Siva rode.

"Story time!" Siva said excitedly, rocking back and forth in the saddle. Quill began giving her a look of annoyance, probably foreshadowing an eviction from the horse.

((No, stupid Jack! Alice was just about to kiss Hatter!!!! Punch him in the face, Hatter!))

((More Alice in Wonderland? WHY MUST YOU INSULT MEEEEE?!!!!! If you haven't read my last journal, long story short: In the last play we did Alice in Wonderland and the new directors thought I was someone else so they gave me a crappy role and this dumb bitch got the lead. >.>))

'It's...long,' Arlyn said simply. It was also something he really didn't want to talk about. But as a small crowd gathered around him, eager to hear, he supposed he had no choice. He let out a long breath before starting. 'Alright, alright. I'll try and make it short.'

'There are three important families among the Elain and Henkilo. They are Bryanis, Kains, and mine. Bryani comes from a long line of Lieges. Her father is the current one. Kains family makes up the governers. They're the Lieges right hand man. My family makes up the Argent, which...really doesn't do anything. The Liege is an Elain, who used to be Henkilo. This is accomplished by a transfer of power from the Argent to the Liege, giving them the strength of the the Henkilo, and the magic ability of the Elain.'

"So, you lose your power?" Vane guessed.

'Yes,' Arlyn answered dryly. 'And die.'

"What happens when the current Liege dies?" the cheetah asked. 'The miniscule balance between our two races is done, and we go into complete and total anarchy,' Arlyn answered.

((But, but....It's the SyFy channel twisted version of it! And it's totally freaking awesome! Guns and shooting and everything! Plus Mad March as a robotic assassin!))

"That definitely doesn't sound good," Kitai said.

"oooh, this is going to get interesting!" Siva jumped from her spot behind Quill to behind Kitai on Leartes, bumping the saddlebag again in her leap.

"Hmm, humans don't deal too well with anarchy," Quill commented, looking pleased to have kicked Rank XVII out of saddle. "I've seen that before, even if they do have a second animal form."

Don't squeak don't squeak don't squeak! Yoko thought to himself as he was bumped again, probably mistaken for an object in the bag. Whoever kept jumping on and off the horse....sort of needed to stop before he was found out. That was the last thing that needed to happen.

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'Actually, that's pretty much the end,' Arlyn admitted. 'I didn't feel like being used as a vessel and giving my life so Bryani could become the next Liege. Now she's mad.' He silently agreed with Quill. Back then, he hadn't really thought about the anarchy aspect, but now as the Liege got older and weaker, the consequences of his acts were beginning to hit him hard.

"Isn't there anyone else who can do that in your place?" Kitai asked. "You've had lot sof kids, right? But couldn't they become liege without Elain magic?"

"That's a silly tradition," Quill scoffed. "Why must humans always have the silliest ways of picking their leaders? Even the whole voting process thing - why choose a leader by popularity contest? The leader should be the strongest, wisest, or most respected."

'I sort of wish,' Arlyn replied. 'But what keeps the balance is the fact that the Liege is both Elain AND Henkilo in a sense.'

It was a stupid tradition, but it was what had been done for years and years, ever since anyone could remember.

"If the leader should be the strongest, wisest, or most respected, then why is Akaelin leading the Rebellion?" Seff asked absentmindedly. He wasn't the strongest. Nor was he wise, and he sure as hell wasn't the most respected person among them.

"From what I've noticed, the Rebellion is hardly a very logical group," Quill commented. "At least there was no debate that Lycaon and Demonwolf were the strongest. Look at Taren, she held the loyalty of five demi-gods at the same time. The Triumverate have their underlings terrified of them."

Kitai cast a disparaging look toward her sister. Though the Taren example was okay, the rest of the group hardly needed of reminder of her twin's previous loyalties.

"Then you seem to be saying that he shouldn't be the leader," Seff commented as they walked. "Do you have a better suggestion?" She was being sarcastic, only curious.

((short post is really really short.))

"I said that those were qualities a leader should have, not that they're always how it works with the loyalty of the people," Quill said. "Sai was the leader because people respected that she brought them through hardship. Then Akaelin because he's her cousin. Really, that ragtag group would follow anyone in it."

"Like you?" Siva asked, only curiously, not accusingly

"Hardly," she chuckled. "I said anyone that was in it. I have no loyalty to the Rebellion itself, only to those I care for. I am fighting for it because I have to."

((Kiss, KISS! Not just an awkward hug and "we could do pizza sometime"...wait....WOO! Alice's response: "and other things"))