Chasing Moths (Mocking_Jayy and Desu Juice)

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[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Cassius smiled sadly at the dirt.

"I expected as much... But, I still figured that you might want to get it off your chest..." He hesitated for a moment, before adding, "Just as much as I do."

Cassius looked towards the water again, and his smile came back full-force as he watched fireflies begin to dance just above the suface of the waves, twinkling like stars as they made half-circles around the flowers.

"I'm going to go take a bath."

Cassius stood up, and went to the edge of the water, barely hidden by the foliage growing around in the mud. Carelessly, he began to remove his armor piece-by-piece, and he cast them aside into the brush, hanging things that were cloth-like, leaving their metal counterparts to find their way in the grass.

Often in his travels when he would find a lake, Cassius would swim in it. It was an unexplainable second nature to him after he discovered that water was oddly refreshing on burns.[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
Farah finished up setting her makeshift tent and glanced over to Cassius. Just like he did? What did he want to share...? Shaking her head, the girl stood up and grabbed a strap of her backpack before throwing it inside of the tent. "Alright. Um...I'm going to get some sleep." She said before adding. "Night."

She slipped inside of the tent and took a seat on the cool ground. It was far too dark for her liking, she pulled open one of he flaps, letting the light of the fire illuminate the inside of the tent slightly. A heavy sigh left her lips and she slumped forward, covering her face with her hands. Images of her tormentors plaguing her mind. Even now that she wasn't their captive, they still tortured her mentally with all these horrible memories, that she preferred to call living nightmares. Wiping the stray tears from her eyes, Farah forced herself not to think about them anymore, or at least try not to. She curled up into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest as she starred over to the fire through the opening of her tent.

The flames were quite mesmerizing and for a while she starred at them until her eyes slowly closed and she drifted off to sleep.
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[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]At some point, Cassius had finished his swimming.
Standing in the water, he carefully pulled his pants on while the fireflies made halos around his body.

He slowly strolled back to shore, making sure he didn't wake Farah with his splashing, deposited some of his clothes by the edge of the fire to dry, and then unhooked a bedroll from his backpack.

Cassius was shirtless, and because this was one of the silly things he wanted to pointlessly confess to the sleeping girl, who could not see them anyway. Going diagonally across his body were burns; the left his of his chest and ribcage were a mottle of burn scars. The same went for his back, and all the way down his left arm. Cassius felt comfortable about these, having years to grow accustomed to the curious stares of the merchants that had wanted to accompany him as he bathed.
The scars were nothing though, when compared to the dark metal jutting out of his back and going down the length of his spine, as if encasing it- all of the plates small and flat, to keep from bothering him if he wore anything over them.
Under his pants, his bootless left leg was metal. A prosthetic- going up to just below his knee. And just like dagger and the canteen, both of these things were different. Undiscovered technology... The plates fit together too neatly, with screws, and were shaped too well for the time.

Still shirtless, Cassius entered his sleeproll and burrowed himself deep into the fur, sighing in comfort. He twisted around to face the fire, afraid that if he didn't watch it burn out, it would escape its rocky borders and wreck havoc.
That was when he noticed Farah, and smiled to himself as he watched her for a minute.

At some point in the night, he fell asleep.[/fieldbox]
 
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Farah was running though the woods again and she glanced over her shoulder to see the familiar stocky figure chasing after her. Picking up the pace, the breeze blew against her dark locks of hair, sending them to get her vision, effectively blinding her until she swiped them from her face. Suddenly there was a harsh tug to her scalp when her pursuer pulled her hair, causing her to cry out in pain. The next thing she knew, she was being pinned to the floor by the man's weight and she struggled against his grip. Of course it was useless and the man waited until she tired herself out to make his advances.

His hands slipped under her shirt and slowly traveled upwards. "Stop! Please!" Farah begged as tears left her eyes as she attempted to free her hands, but she couldn't. The man wasted no time in groping her, before they began to travel downwards. "NO!"

Farah woke up, her breathing heavy and sweat sliding down her temples. A shudder passed through her body as that horrible sensation of the man feeling her up came to mind again. "It was just a nightmare." Farah murmured to herself and slipped out of her tent. It was the break of dawn and Cassius was still fast asleep. Though that wasn't important to her right now. What was important was ridding herself off this nasty feeling. So she rushed over to the lake and wasted no time in undressing and stepping into the water.
 
[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Hearing Farah's cries had woken Cassius, but he was immobilized with the fact that he just didn't know what to do. All of it was terribly familiar to him, but Farah was a different person. He had no idea how to approach her.

It was Albanus that had restored Cassius's sanity, and saved him from his nightmares. Not completely, for still he suffered the terrible fear of fire among other things, but Cassius would have grown up to be a much different, much more haunted person without Albanus to help guide him in the right direction.
It was when Barrius was telling him about the terrible things that had happened to Farah that Cassius decided that the two had suffered, and just as Albanus had saved him, Cassius would save Farah too. Somehow.


He listened to her footsteps splash in the water for a moment, eyes closed and heartbeat heavy in his chest.

With time, all wounds heal. Cassius sat up, feeling a dull ache in his left leg. The weather must be changing- perhaps there would be a storm today.

He turned away from where he figured Farah was, bearing his scars and metal spine to the sun hanging over the water turning the waves into golden peals, and kicked the furs off of his legs. Cassius drew his metal leg up to his chest and carefully rubbed the area where his skin met the grey, lifeless prosthetic with a jumble of skin and scarring, and hissed in annoyance as it ached under his fingers.[/fieldbox]
 
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[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
Farah stepped deeper into the water, causing for several ripples to go about the surface of the water. Her nightmare hadn't been a complete dream-it was more like a series of memories compiled into one to make that. A bitter smile crossed her features as she thought back to Cassius words. She was not like most girls. She was actually quite far from them. Farah had witnessed and gone through things no sixteen year old should ever go through and she hoped that no one would ever be subjected to that type of torture. A sob escaped through her lips and the girl sunk down to her knees, effectively getting the water to reach up to her collar bone. Why couldn't she have just died like the rest of her family than go through that haunting mess and pain?

Pull yourself together...Normally it was easier for Farah to compose herself but at the given moment, it was becoming quite difficult and she couldn't shake off those bottled up emotions that wanted to spill out. Maybe she could do herself the favor and just end everything now...No more pain. No more nightmares. No more fearing sleep or anything. Ending her own life was tempting and it would be easy. Drowning herself could work, but she still had a score to settle and until then, she would fight this through and make sure those bandits got what they deserved. Gritting her teeth, the girl glared down at the water-at her reflection, before splashing the water through with her hand and averting her gaze up at sky. She wouldn't let them break her again, especially when she wasn't even in their presence.
[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Cassius drew a breath and closed his eyes tightly, focusing on the sound of nothing around him. For a moment, the feeling dissolved into the mess of other thoughts flying around in his mind... then a drop of water landed onto his nose and broke his concentration, bringing the dull ache back with it.

The man looked up at the sky from beneath his bangs, and watched the heavens swarm with ugly grey clouds, pregnant with their rain and spread across the sky like smoke from a funeral pyre. His leg was the best rain-meter one could have.
Cassius liked the rain, but there was something strange about today that made him feel uneasy about the upcoming storm.

He sighed and pulled himself up off of his bedroll to stand. He couldn't find the will to smile. The rain felt like an ill omen to him, and he couldn't shake the feeling of something terrible looming over the hills, hidden well within their emerald valleys.

And then, Cassius heard a splash. For a while, there had been nothing but silence- the sound was a stark contrast to the quiet of the silent clouds gathering mass. "Farah?" He called out, worried. Had she fallen into deep water? Was she alright? He turned and took a few steps towards the water. The guard, of course, couldn't help but be paranoid.[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
May felt a drop of water land on her cheek, mingling with the tears from her eyes. Her gaze locked onto the grey clouds gathering above them and she couldn't help to feel like the current weather was the epitome of how she felt. Dark and grey. The familiar voice pulled her away from her thoughts and the girl looked over her shoulder to spot the blonde looking over at her.

"What is it?" Her tone had came out much harsher than she had anticipated and she winced slightly. From the amount of distance between them, she doubted he could see her bare body under the water and was beginning to grow nervous at the thought. Taking a couple of steps away, she bit her lip and sunk a bit lower into the water, causing for the surface of it to reach her chin.

A low curse escaped passed her lips when she realized that she hadn't even gotten her towel out to dry herself off and her clothes was at the shore of the lake.
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[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Cassius winced at her tone, then frowned. "Nevermind, princess." He turned and stomped away from the edge of the lake, swiftly leaning down to roll up his bedroll and begin reattaching it to his backpack again.

Oh good, he was in a heck of a bratty mood. Cassius pulled his armor back on, securing his shoulder-pads in place before scooping up his cloak and quickly brushed it off before pulling it around his shoulders again and securing it in place with a pin. He stomped down on the still-live embers of the flame with his metal foot with a terrible, self-satisfied vengeance, before putting his metal-tipped boots back on, and quickly pulling his great sword and backpack over his shoulders on top of the cloak.

Once he was fully dressed again, Cassius approached the tent and began to pull it out of the ground, intent on getting it prepared for packing at least... Maybe it was a form of an apology for being a bit rude in his earlier remark.[/fieldbox]
 
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[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
Farah had regretted how her tone had come out, yet she frankly hadn't been expecting for him to respond back the way he did. For a few seconds, she just watched him and her frown deepened even more. She felt bad for making him angry, given that he was always happy. It didn't make her happy that she was the cause of his anger or anyone's anger for that matter. So with cautious steps, she made her way tot he shore while he pulled on his clothes, though she paused whens she noticed the metal going down his spine in a straight line. It looked far too advance. Where did he get that?

After a few seconds, she quickly got to her clothes and began to put them on, despite how wet her body was. While she was wringing out her hair, ridding it of the water, she noticed him taking down her tent.
[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Cassius heard Farah step out of the water, and turned around... Then quickly snapped his head back forward with a slight blush when he noticed that she was getting dressed.

"Oh yeah- good morning, by the way... So, uh, we should look at my map and make a plan of approach... I want to avoid the mountains, for obvious reasons." Cassius didn't mean to sound unenthusiastic, but the aches all over his body were already beginning to wear him down. He stepped to the side away from the tent so that she could collect it and put it away however she pleased.

It 's not like he wasn't used to them by now... In all of his journeys, Cassius was never allowed to delve into any kind of self-indulgence to rest at an Inn while he waited for the aches to go away. It was either keep traveling, or be a hindrance.
He squared his shoulder and mentally prepared himself for the tough journey ahead... Then promptly gave up on standing and dropped down, cross-legged onto his butt- facing away to give Farah her privacy. He was pouting petulantly, wishing the foul weather away so that he could function like a relatively normal human being again.[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
Farah finished drying her hair as best as she could before giving Cassius. "Morning. Thanks for taking down the tent." She moved over to the tarp on the ground and began to fold it up, before rolling it up. Getting the rope from her bag, she tied it around the roll, then stored it in her backpack.

Pulling the straps on, she adjusted them a bit before turning to look at Cassius, who for some reason was on the floor. She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before approaching him. "What's wrong?" She questioned, once she saw the childlike pout on his lips. It was quite amusing to see, given that he was an Elite.
[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Cassius grunted in response and lifted his leg up again the cup his palms around his calf, then shook his head. "Nothing. An old injury."

Mirroring the weather around him, Cassius seemed to have his own rain cloud over his head as he reached into the pouch on his belt and retrieved an old-looking map.
He unfurled it, and pressed the scroll against the ground to study it with a critical gaze.

"Ok... So the border is here..." He pressed a finger down on one of the fine lines inked into the paper, then ran it along the squiggle. "... We should keep heading south..."[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
It was obviously nothing given that he was on the floor pouting like a child, but Farah didn't comment on the matter or questioned him. It wasn't like she had the right to anyway. She had refused to tell him anything about and if she questioned him then that would make her a hypocrite.

When he opened the map, Farah raised a brow and looked down at it. "South? Sounds good." She nodded and glanced up. It was beginning to sprinkle and the girl groaned. This was not good weather to travel in. "Should we really continue to travel in this weather?" Farah questioned.
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[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Cassius perked up when she asked if they had to continue traveling. "Would you rather stay here?" He threw himself back to lay down on the ground, watching her. His hair made a golden halo around his head, matching the blazing shape of a lion's mane. It was strange to see someone look so lordly as they laid like a child in the grass. And among him were the lake blooms; they peeked between the strands of his hair, as if they were intent on making a garland among the sunny locks.

It was the first time in his travels that someone had been persuaded by bad weather to stay in one place. Usually, people assumed that even if lightning struck them, Cassius would find a way to fight back the current of electricity and duel with the god of lightning himself for their life- despite his aching leg.

But finally, he had met someone sensible. "There's nothing but fields up ahead. It might be dangerous to travel with a storm bearing down on us." The rain pattered against his cheeks, and Cassius closed his eyes to keep the water out of them. "But are you sure? Losing a day of travel..." He trailed off and glanced up at Farah.[/fieldbox]

((Just to explain how I'm using the die system: In this post, for example, the first die represents amount of enemies. 2 doesn't literally mean two people, but rather it means a very, very small group. Maybe three, or four people.
The chance of 'capture' is 6 (dun dun duuuun). They're going to get served. Sorry. >.>

I don't know this this is a good way of using the system, but ahhh well, whatever. xD ))
 
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[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
Farah starred down at the male, amazed at the fact that he looked like some sort of lord despite just laying on the ground with flowers around him. His golden locks caused for a halo to appear around his head, adding to the effect.

At the mention of fields awaiting them up ahead, she thought of the possibilities and she figured it would be better to just camp out. "Our lives are more important than losing travel time." Farah answered as she glanced up at the sky, the rain coming down much faster, effectively getting her clothes even more soaked than they already were. "Tch...do I set up my tent again? I don't want to get more wet than I already am "
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[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Cassius sighed, and nodded. "Yeah, I guess that would be a good idea, there aren't too many trees around here."

He pulled himself up to sit upright again, then rolled his map up and stuck it back into his pouch. After a moment of hesitation, Cassius stood up and pulled his backpack and cloak off and placed them on the ground and stretched his arms up to the cloudy sky as his shoulders were freed from the weight.

"You know, I really appreciate it that we don't have to travel today." He smiled earnestly again... and then immediately frowned.

He smelled smoke. Cassius turned, and immediately his smile vanished and was replaced with an expression of utter horror. In the distance, towering over the lush green hills where they had come from was a pillar of dark smog- somebody must have lit a bonfire in the meadows.

"What the..." Cassius trailed off as he realized that something seemed off about the bushes beside them, and he quickly reached down to pick his great sword up. He cleared his throat nervously and feigned a smile as he drew the weapon out if its scabbard, then slowly approached the bushes, acting as casual as he could. "I really need to sharpen this. You wouldn't suppose there would be a good stone for that here somewhere...?" He said, his voice sounding particularly cheery.
Cassius crouched down at the base of the bush and pretended to reach around to his other side to pick something up off the ground, then clutched his sword in two sturdy hands. In a second- the sword was thrust into the shrub, and then quickly slashed left across its length.

Cassius would have looked like an insane person if it wasn't for the fact that the bush produced a massive spray of blood- he had hit his mark. His tricks had worked.

The male retreated as a black-cloaked body slumped forwards from the greenery. More sounds echoed from the flora around him, and Cassius side-stepped closer to his companion.

"Farah, stay close to me. I think it's an ambush." his voice was even, but rushed and worried. This was the first time something like this had ever happened to him in this area.

Right on cue, a dark-cloaked figured stepped out of the bushes to the left of him. Cassius could see that the figure was barefoot. A necklace of bird skulls rattled around the person's neck as the slowly approached. Cassius threw his head up, establishing a brave appearance with his chin lifted and shoulders squared. "Who are you?" He asked... And then immediately shrunk back and grew wide-eyed as the person before him raised a lit torch towards the blonde.[/fieldbox]
 
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[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
Taking note of Cassius's frown, Farah furrowed her eyebrows and followed his line of gaze, only to see dark smoke in the air off in the distance. Cassius then proceeded to act strange as he questioned about sharpening his knife. For a moment, she regarded him with a are-you-crazy type of look. It was only until he took out his word and swung at the brush, causing for a spray of blood to fly out, did she realize what was going on.

Her ears caught on to the faint noises around them, which caused for her brow to crease with worry. What the hell was going on? When the dark clad figure emerged from the left, Farah felt her heart stop and the color drained form her face. That necklace was all too familiar and horrible memories played through her mind. Instinctively, she recoiled back and moved closer to Cassius, given that he was suppose to be her protector.

-Le Flashback-

"Athalos, she's all yours for the rest of the day. Make sure she doesn't do anything stupid." The tan colored man said, before turning on his heel and exiting the room. Immediately Athalos turned to look at Farah with a grin, that seemed far too creepy for her liking. "Come here." He ordered, yet Farah remained glued to her spot, not exactly wanting to get anywhere near the male. Athalos took note that the girl wasn't going to make an effort to go to him, so with a sigh, he began to approach her. "You know...things would go a lot more easier for you if you just did what you were told." The male had finally stopped less than a foot from her and Farah knew better than to back away from him. "And you wouldn't have all these bruises and cuts on you." He murmured as he gently, much to her surprise, gripped her chin and titled it to get a better look at her injuries. For a moment, she had believed that she could actually have someone to rely on in this place, but her hopes were crushed when a smile full of malice blossomed on his lips. The next thing she knew, she felt a strong stinging sensation at the side of her face and the impact had been so hard, that she was seeing stars dance in her vision. His harsh slap had sent her tumbling to the floor with a heavy thud. After that he proceeded to beat her, until he had enough.

-Le Present-

To this day, Farah could still feel that pain and then numbness she had felt that day. Who would've thought that he would be the first one she confronts.
[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Cassius Albanus, cyan, dashed, 10"]Three more figures crawled out of the bushes around them, moving like prowling jaguars- dark and focused. Cassius lifted his blade, and quickly glanced behind himself to ensure that Farah was close to him, and safe.

The man with the bird skulls taunted Cassius with the torch- jutting it forward and laughing as the blonde backed away. "Camillo was right, he is afraid of fire!"
And in response to this, the Elite swung his blade with lightning speed at the man- slicing the blazing torch clear in half. "Shit!" The figure cursed and leapt back as the resulting sparks bit his skin.

After a moment, he collected himself and turned to Farah, grinning like a wild dog. "I think you looked better with all those cuts and bruises..." He giggled, straight-up giggled- and Cassius realized something at that very moment that made his blood boil. Rage cut into his heart like a white-hot poker; his eyes opened wide and his hair bristled. "This man..." He spoke with a voice made rough by anger, and glanced at Farah from the corner of his eye. "I'll kill him."

"Ohohoho~ what a funny guy. What a young Adonis you've found yourself!" The bird skulls rattled as the figure took a step back and drew his hands up. Magic fire licked up his hands, and illuminated a smug grin. "You look like someone really arrogant. I'd love to mess you up."

"I'd love it if you shut your mouth, stupid mage."

Cassius lifted his sword over his head and brought it down full-force, but the cloaked figure danced away with all the grace of a ballerina. Cassius only smirked in response, and charged after him, swinging and swinging, blazing with fury and looking like he was having fun chasing the artful dodger in circles. The few times the man shot fire at him, the marks along Cassius's great sword glowed yellow-white, and a transparent ward appeared before the male to protect him from the magic.[/fieldbox]
 
[fieldbox="Farah Montague, blueviolet, dashed, 10"]
Farah had honestly pictured her confrontation with Athalos to be far different than this. For one, she didn't want to be cowering back in fear. Second, she would have figured that she would have had the upper hand. But this...this was not going according to her plan. She had been naive to believe that things would go her way. Surely she should have known by now.

When he turned to look at her, he gave her that grin that she hated so damn much, yet brought her fear at the same time. Looking up at Cassius, her eyes widened and she glanced over to the other male as he began to taunt her bodyguard. It wasn't long before the two began their own little sparring session and she was left to sand there. It occurred to her that Athalos wasn't alone and before she could even reach down to her boot to get her dagger, huge hands ceased her upper arms. Cursing under her breath, the girl in desperation began to struggle against their grips. She managed to kick one of the males where the sun don't shine, before the other pushed her down and pinned her to the ground by digging his knee in the middle of her small back, causing for a yelp to escape her lips. "Cassius!" Farah called out to the blonde, though her voice came out strangled due to the male pushing his knee harder into her.

"I suggest you calm down before I do some damage to your little girl, here." The male above her spoke before gripping her hair and giving it a harsh tug, causing for a yelp to leave her lips.
[/fieldbox]
 
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