FABLE: The New Heroes

Ella bit her lower lip painfully as she turned her head and looked away. The dagger seem to shake as her left hand tremble, its grip tightening around the weapon. She felt like stabbing something or someone but when she realize what she wanted to do she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. Better... I shall not loose control again. It was a good idea to walk behind Uunia since Ella didn't want him to see how worked up she got. She could care less whether he put an arrow to her head or tried to kill her. What bothered her the most was that he thought she was a mere helpless kid. After all, he was experienced so it was smart to obey him but not completely submit to him. "No questions" she said absently as she looked at the back of his figure. My opinion, he needs to relax she thought and chuckled.
 
Blair smirked, blocking his strike. "Oh? Perhaps I'll attend one of your parties someday," she replied. "And I won't take any of my weapons, just to show courtesy." Blair stood casually, waiting for him to try another strike. "Keep a firm hand on your sword and try to control it's direction," she suggested, having noticed his crooked arc. "Hopefully, you're parties are of better taste than Reaver's," Blair mentioned, laughing gently.

~~~

She took back the pistol, slipping it into her belt. "Ah, is that so?" She smiled at Brody and laughed, "Wouldn't it be nice if I were perfect?" Raven sat down, looking towards the targets. "Perhaps I will take you up on that and take some lessons from this Desmond fellow," she said. "How long have you known him?" she asked. "You seem quite fond of him."

~~~

Adrien hurried into the Guild and looked around the great halls. He had an important message from one of the heroes in Bowerstone, a quest that had to be attended to immediately. "Hey!" he shouted. "I have a message!" He stopped walking and waited for someone to come attend to the matter.

His throat hurt, he had shouted quite loud and he wasn't used to raising his voice at all. He wrung his hands nervously. Being in a place filled with heroes made him nervous. They were so... Cool and awesome.
 
"So answer me something."

The voice came from just a short distance away from where Desmond and Blair were sparring. The speaker was... what must have been a young man, barely over the age of 18 at most. While the cloak around his shoulders did give some bulk to his figure, it wasn't enough to hide the fact that he was very small and very, veryskinny. Likely, however, the most noticeable thing about the young one would be the glowing blue lines and symbols scrawled across his face and arms.

Despite his age, his eyes held an odd, almost piercing cold and disdain, ignoring the woman in favor of the man she was dueling.

"Do you actually fight?" the boy continued, pushing off what he had been leaning against to give a distasteful look to the man in front of him. "Or do you just make pathetic passes at women with awful lines until they either run away screaming or surrender just so you'll shut up?"

His tone was not even remotely friendly -- it was... fairly clear he was either mocking or insulting Desmond.... or, more likely, doing both.

----

Kurtran had been relaxing, actually warm for once, when someone came into the Guild screaming his head off. He nearly fell out of his chair at that, managing to catch the table he had been sitting at before he entirely upended. Scratching his head curiously, he swung to his feet, coming up behind Adrien with the usual clacking of boots.

"What kind of message?" he asked curiously, stretching a bit.
 
"My guests usually aren't secretly horrible creatures, and I've yet to end a gathering by means of slaughter", he said with a light chuckle, rolling his wrist slightly. "Although, I'd advise against coming unarmed. My visitors aren't always the friendliest sort. " Taking her advice into consideration, his grip on the sword tightened a bit. Desmond darted forward, lashing out at Blair with a horizontal strike..

A sudden interruption drew his attention away from what he was doing though, causing him to stop just short of his attack connecting. "I.. Well.. ", he had been caught off guard, which had been proven by his initial response. After a moment of thought, Desmond lowered his blade, turning toward the voice. A young man, sort of small and scrawny.. But something about him gave the feeling that, despite his puny exterior, he was not to be screwed with. He smiled faintly before speaking, though it was likely a bit insincere. "Oh, you've been watching?", he asked, deflecting the young man's own questions, "Are you another of the recruits here, by chance?"
 
"If you don't have any questions now, you will soon." he said as was looking down at the large map, he hearing both the messenger and Kurtran, he sighing as the eager pistol wielder went after Ardian, "Quite your shouting message boy, we have enough to deal with with gun fire and metal clanking in the courtyard." he said with a growl as he plotted he and Ella's course through the thick wood. He looked to Ella as he pointed to a few key points, "Alright, the best route will be to go down this side road, it's racked with bandits but I'd rather take you that way then past the evil sepulchral. If we are lucky, we can take out the vagabonds silently and swiftly, maybe even coat that dagger of yours." he said with a chuckle, an image of her and her fist kill along with the many bodies littered with his arrows flooded his mind. He couldn't help but smile at the mental image, then realized he had paused for too long, leaving an awkward silence, "Oh...um...right, well, if we do end up dealing with a load of them, don't worry, stay calm, and we'll simply carve our way through. Just remember your training here from the guild." he said as he checked his pack and made for the door, he opening it with some strength needed and looked back to her, "Well come on, I want a kill by nightfall." he said with a grin as he looked out onto the view of bowerstone, the guild nestled just outside of the city. He saw the road they would take, it going along the side of the overlooking mountains and even further in the distance, past the overlaying mist, the forest where the balvorines would lurk. He couldn't help but shudder at the anticipation as his eyes reflecting his ever building malice.
 
Poor messenger boy thought Ella as she ignored him and kept walking. To her, Uunia was a mystery she needed to solve but it seemed to her that he suffered a case of bipolarity. "I am calm." she said patiently as she walked past the door and look far ahead."Wow, doesn't look that bad" she whispered lowly more to herself than to Uunia which she was sure he didn't want to hear her talking. Shrugging, she stepped by his side and looked at the map. Hmm, he is right. It is easier to go the way he planned. Ella sighed and rested her eyes in his face wondering what could be his purpose or what he wanted from the guild. There was something in his eyes that said "I'll kill anything and anyone that crosses my path" but she shook the thought away. A minute later, she realize that she was still staring at him. I am an idiot she though as she looked back at the view of mountains and the trail of a dirt path ahead of them.
 
Blair had lifted her own blade to block Desmond's when the voice spoke. She turned to the new young man who had walked in. "Um... Excuse me," she said, even though the young man had ignored her. "Who are you? Well... You're obviously another of our recruits, but maybe you could've introduced yourself first." Blair couldn't help but smile a little, but she cleared her throat quickly. "I'm Blair, one of the trainers here," she introduced herself, holding her hand out.

~~~

Adrien could hear the sound of footsteps behind him and he turned to find a man there. He almost backed away, the usual feeling of intimidation that came from heroes washed over him again. "Oh... Oh, it's a... Problem..." he began, stumbling over his words. "Yeah... Yeah a problem in... Um... That one place..."

Dammit! What was that place? he asked himself nervously. How could he have forgotten? It had been so important. He stood there with a blank stare for a few moments before he remembered. "Wraithmarsh! And Bloodstone! Those places are having troubles!" he shouted as he remembered. "With lots of hollow men! Reports keep coming in, hollow men are even showing up in the town," Adrien told the hero.
 
The boy raised an eyebrow, staring Desmond down at the question. His cold demeanor never changed, arms crossing as his eyes flickered to Blair when she addressed him.

"At least you aren't completely stupid," he replied, looking back to the man. "Where do you think these lines came from? Because I clean around here?"

He shrugged a little, the gesture actually slightly off with such a thick cloak on such a small frame.

"Nesku."

At least the fact that she was a trainer seemed to grant her some respect, his voice still cold but lacking the mocking tone he used with Desmond.

------

He blinked a little, scratching his cheek as Adrien recoiled from him. Had he done something scary?

"Are you okay? You seem kind of... twitchy."

More than twitchy, actually, but he kept the rest of it to himself out of politeness, especially since the man had begun to sputter out his message. It seemed like he was having some trouble with it, actually, but it wasn't as if Kurt had anything but time to wait until he could spit it out.

"Hollow Men? Aren't they always in Wraithmarsh?" Granted, he wasn't the best at keeping areas and such straight in his head... Even so, that was certainly not a comforting thought.

"I'd better let the others know..." He flashed Adrien a friendly, gentle smile. "Thank you."
 
Vince glanced at Kayla with a smile that looked somewhat torn from highly proud of her reassurance to Marcus and slightly ticked at her taunt. He then turned his gaze to Marcus, obviously bemused at his recollecting of their last Will practice session.

"You do know I'm a master of Strength too, ri-" Vince began.

"Oi!"

'Oh, come the hell on!' Vince groaned inwardly.

"Hello. Vincent de La Forge, Hero of Will and Trainer here at the guild. Pleasure to meet you face to face, Axel." Vince stated as he turned to face the new arrival. "These are a couple of your fellow recruits, Marcus Garrett, Hero of Strength. You may have met the young lady already, Kayla Moroe, Heroine of Will." He gestured at his two companions. "Marcus, Kayla, this is Axel, a Hero of Skill. He's a recruit that showed up today." Vince motioned to Axel. "We were just on our way to do my personal favorite form of training. They have no idea what that is, as I'm sure you don't either." He continued without waiting for a response.

'Unless your cannon came with the ability to read minds as well?' He thought bitterly, before continuing.

"And I was just about to tell them what it is, when you came by. It's actually something I've been trying to do all day, as I mentioned to Marcus earlier. Meditation. I can see you've completely exhausted your Will already, Kayla. Don't give me that look." He returned her look. "Meditation will allow you to rest and restore your Will while also honing your will!"

"Marcus? You worry too much. You feel guilty too much. Strength isn't everything if you have a weak will. You wanna know why you epically fail in Will? Because you have no will! Meditation is the perfect thing to set you at ease. Once you're clear-headed, I think we may have a shot at sparkin' your palms up." He knew he was being a little harsh, but they were his companions, his guildmates, his friends. He wanted them to continue living on with him.

"Axel, I may have just met you. But you seem like the type that runs nonstop. You may benefit from a little meditation as well, if you want to join us, come right along. But I take my training seriously, no matter what form it is. I expect my students to as well." He tore his eyes from Kayla and Marcus and put them on Axel to gauge the young mans reaction.

----------------------------

"Master Desmond's family... took me in... when I was about 11 years old, when Desmond was about 15-ish years of age. Despite everything, they were good to me. His mom taught me to be a good man. He taught me to be a man, he was more than a mentor to me. He was a brother, and a father..." Brody sighed and began fingering his necklace in thought. Old feelings stirring up, best to change the subject. "What about you? How were your parents?"

----------------------------

A wandering, panting black figure stalked the halls. It had no particular goal in mind, just out for a stroll, but then it caught a smell. It wasn't a pleasant smell, but it didn't turn the figure off. So, it followed it. It brought him to a young man with black hair and grey eyes. The figure stalked the young man, hiding itself in the shadows. After a bit, the black-haired man was yelled at by another young man who smelled of metal and sweat. The man the figure was following yelled back at the other guy and then continued on. After a couple minutes, the figure got bored and jumped out of the shadows in front of the young black-haired man, revealing itself as a solid black and white speckled bullmastiff. It sat down, panting happily, like it just won a game.
{OOC: that one's at you, PowerBass, just in case I wasn't obvious enough xD;;}
 
Marcus gave a polite nod to Axel as Vince motioned to the buff trainee hero, staying quiet as he listened to his mentor speak. Though his expression was deadpan, he couldn't help but silently be amused at how quickly Vince had switched from wanting to down some beer and slack off, to being all serious about training and giving them nuggets of his wisdom. If it were anyone else, he might've found such a sudden change in tone odd, but that's just how his friend was.

When Vince addressed him a second time, commenting on his perceived lack of will, he wanted to argue the point, but decided it would be impolite. Well, I don't agree with him, but it would be rude to interrupt… Hey, wait a minute. Marcus sighed, closing his eyes for a brief moment, realizing he'd just proven Vince's point. To HIMSELF. It was all he could do to keep himself from facepalming.

Clearing his throat, he responded to his teacher. "If you say so, sir." He was a little skeptical of this whole meditation business, but he'd go along with it. While Vince had his attention turned to Axel, Marcus glanced over at Kayla, giving her a small shrug, wondering if she was thinking the same thing as him.
 
"Nesku, mm?.. The name is Desmond Cale, It's a pleasure", Desmond said, his voice still friendly, but his eyes lacking any real sincerity. He'd be polite beyond the point that most might, but he wasn't going to ignore the young man's smart comments and insults. He'd keep a mental note of every unsavory character here, adding to their 'file' each chance he'd get. If one of these people were actually going to turn on him or his companion, he'd be expecting it.

Desmond turned his attention away from the new arrival to look down at the blade he held. He rolled his wrist slightly before directing his attention toward Blair, "Perhaps we should continue this some other time, Miss Blair?"
 
"Well," Axel defended. "If I want things done right, I'd have to do it myself. Makes no sense sitting still. But I don't see why not." Axel shrugged.

He glided over to Kayla and threw an arm around her shoulder. "And if you want any of those special needs done right, don't go to this guy." Axel motioned slightly to Vincent and turned back to her with a wolfish grin. He glanced up at the taller man, Marcus, was it? and gave an overeexaggerated conspiratorial wink. Then the wide grin was gone in an instant, arm dropping from around Kayla's shoulder.

"I'll just chuck this," he motioned to his bag. "In a corner and I'd be right with you."


Jace reared back a few steps, falling into a defensive crouch. Blinking, however, at the sight of his 'assailant,' he furrowed his brows incredulously.

What the--.

He looked around, sure it was Axel's doing. Why he immediately thought so, he wasn't too sure but he was almost positive Axel pulled this trick out of his arse to mess with him. Not even seeing hide nor tail of the shooter, Jace looked back down at the black and white dog-like creature. There had to be something wrong with it; it was looking at him like 'I've got you now and you can't escape!'

"Nice bullmastiff?" He hazarded, raising a brow.
 
Smiling in greeting to Axel as Vincent made the introductions Kayla soon snapped her eyes to Vince, glaring at him though he was right that she had exhausted her Will instead of stopping to preserve some of it, she just didn't like being reminded about her mistakes. As he explained his method Kayla wondered if this meditation really would work, to sit quiet and concentrate and suddenly you could train better. "If you say it will work..." She said with a shrug, meeting Marcus's sceptic glance with on of her own. But Vince had much more experience than herself after all so she guessed he had learned what worked and what not worked and if it really helped her training than she would gladly sit and meditate.

As Axel moved over to her and threw an arm around her shoulders she had to raise her head a bit to be able to see his face, despite being quite tall herself Axel must've been about a head taller than her anyway. "Don't hold your breath," she said with a grin.
 
"Paint a picture Ms. Ella, it'll last longer..." he said in a jeering statement as he caught her stare. He was used to people looking at him in disgust or fear, but seeing Ella look at him in a way made him feel...off. He then made his way down the coblestone walk way, Ella beside him as they walked. He waited until they were well out of the guild's view before thinking it best to strike up conversation, especially if it meant showing Ella the ropes, "So...why are you here Ella...as a hero I mean?"he said as they made there way past a few traders, they looking at Uunia Wearily and breaking of into a somewhat run to get away from the two of them, "I myself want to see just how powerful the magic of that old man was that went againt the hero of bowerstone." He said as he looked to her, "I'm sure you're familiar with him...the killer of Twin Blade, fighter in the arena before it was taken over by Revear? Sad to hear that Maze was taken by his blade but goes to show that mystical power is simply not enough to conqure everyone..." he said as he kicked away a loose pebble on the road, "I want to leave a better mark on the history pages...if not a bigger one." his eyes peered on as he looked about for any signs of danger, a snapped twig, a few pieces of thread, even the smell in the air for gun powder or a fire. Everything seemed serene so far so taking the time to talk would at least past the time and might make this task a little less taxing on his nerves. His hair blew lightly in the calming breeze, it being a little cool with the mountain facng them with a few trees lettering its base. The road they were on was fairly safe, the occasional bandit or two but nothing ever TOO bad. Also, with the amount of traders now, it was considered a farily safe place to walk, just be sure to have a pistol or sword on hand for any would be curs.
 
Blair nodded to Nesku. "Well Nesku, it's nice to have you here. Need me to show you around or do you think you can find things on your own?" she asked, her eyes flashing to Desmond for a moment. "Ah yes, Mr. Cale, we will finish this another day," she said, giving him a quick wink. Turning back to Nesku, she examined him for a moment.

~~~

"Oh, I see..." Raven said contemplatively. She had looked down, but when she heard him ask about her parents, her head snapped up to look at him. "My parents?" she repeated. "To be completely honest, they weren't exactly the most nurturing people. My dad wasn't very nice and my mom never really did... Motherly stuff." Raven thought for a few moments before smiling a little. "Of course, I am grateful to my father. He's the one who started teaching me how to use a gun. Though... I suppose it came naturally, but still, he got me my first pistol."

~~~


Adrien nodded. "Oh yes! Yes sir! Would you mind if I came with you?" he asked nervously. "I'm not really due back in Bowerstone for a while, so I'll take the opportunity to explore," Adrien said, smiling a little.

"Anyway, lately there's been a terrible overflow of hollow men, from what we've been told. Day and night, wisps float around everywhere, even in town." Adrien laughed nervously, "And yes, I'm fine. I've just... Never really been so close to so many heroes."
 
"Don't hold your breath," came the laughing response.

Chuckling, opened the door nearest them and chucked his bag inside. Closing the door behind him, he met Kayla with a raised brow. "I can get me a lay quite easily," he sniffed, mock tuning up his nose. "This guy, though..."

He tossed a glance at the trainer and leaned in close to the other's face, looking at him closely. He clicked his tongue, shaking his head in acknowledgement of some unspoken shame. He sighed, still peering up at the other. "Poor man. No wonder you want to meditate..."
 
Ella scoffs at Uunia as he told her to paint a picture because it lasted longer. Haha, very funny. Not. It was a surprise to her that he asked her why she was there as a hero but didn't know how to answer that. Instead she asked "By better mark you mean exceeding everyone important. But how? Are you wanting to become famous or infamous?" she said continued emphasizing the word 'infamous' as she gaze at him and then away quickly. To her, Uunia was the kind of man that was at the center of the path that either lead to the right one or the wrong one. Hopefully, the right one she thought and shrugged not knowing why she cared. There was just something about him that made her want to protect him which was silly compared that she was the 'weak one'. Besides, it was not like she knew him or his real motives if he had them. The man is a mystery she thought but without realizing it she had said the words out loud. So much for keeping your mouth shut Ella. She pursed her lips and looked down at the path they were walking and hoped that he didn't hear her. Even though she didn't seem like she was paying attention, she was attentive for any strange noise that could come up from anywhere. The night was silent except from the howls that could be heard miles away. Wolfs she thought absently and stifled a small yawn. It was getting cold as the night proceeded and her body was starting to shiver. Great, me and my sensitive body temperature she thought.
 
Who does this guy think he is, insulting Vince like that? Marcus scowled, clearly not amused by the newcomer's little act. He strode forward, closing the distance between himself and Axel, glaring down at the man with a rather unamused look on his scarred face. With his hammer still in hand (apparently), he raised it and slung it over his shoulders, and in a gravelly tone, simply stated, "You'll show some respect," his prolonged stare burning into the impertinent Axel.
 
"Your dad wasn't... Reaver, was he...?" Brody crossed his fingers behind his back, as he studied Raven's face. 'Oh god, even their names sound alike...' He began to panic. He didn't want to imagine a female Reaver. He didn't think he'd be able to handle that.

----------------------------

The dog notched it's head sideways as it stared at the young man. It panted some more as it stood up and walked towards him. He stood right next to the black-haired youths leg and rubbed against it.
 
Axel looked up at the tall man and raised a brow. He craned his neck, looking at the hammer.

"The giant is not amused," Axel muttered. He sighed and righted himself. "If I didn't respect the man, I'd have told him the minute I saw him." The dark haired trainee gave Marcus a solid pat to the chest. "Lighten up...you'll end up just as cranky as this guy."



Jace rolled his eyes and reached down with a gloved hand to ruffle the animal's fur. Wherever the hell this thing came from, he guessed it didn't matter anymore. He seemed to like Jace. But he never had one of them actually warm up to him. They just sniffed and left him be.

Did some female piss on him and he wasn't aware?


 
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