Yet Another RP ~ Fable. (Jisu n Ty only. Sorry guys.)

(shitshitshitshitshitshitshit RUN FOR IT! ESCAAAAPEEEEE)

(And lol. the start of the sixth page is a comment from me. OH HOW LOVED AM I~ xD)

A vein popped on his forehead pushed the door ever slowly open. Every once in awhile he turned to see how Lucian or to see how the balverine he believed to be him was holding out against the villagers. The first few times he did, the beast looked to have the entire situation under control using fear to halt their movements to stop the two. This was up until the point when he got the gate entirely open.

It seemed in light of watching an innocent girl about to be carried off by two strangers after they supposedly brought the bandits down upon them, one of the villagers finally decided to take a stand against a balverine, especially one that wasn't making any move to attack them. Then again it was quite strange to see a balverine so well behaved, maybe the fool thought he was dreaming, Isaac couldn't blame him. But now wasn't the time to be empathizing with someone willing to shoot at them.

"Hey-" He paused to catch his breath. "I o- pened the... gate! Don't... snarl at me like tha-t! I don't care if you are a- a- Skorm, that was heavy." Isaac, even while yelling at him, noticed the balverine, presently known as Lucian, slipping him an indication to make haste and proceed on through the open gates first since it was his monstrous form that was keeping the mob at bay. Noble even as a beast. Or perhaps he was more worried about the safety of the still unconscious Fiona. Either way he meant his actions, it was still noble. "Fine! I'll get the girl this time! You don't forget the stuff!"

Keeping his promise to Lucian, Isaac jumped down from the gates, finding that the way down was much easier that the way up. Without a second of hesitation, he spun about, grabbing the girl as he ran by, and yelling back over his shoulder to Lucian "Come on" as his feet beat hard against the path, leading over the bridge, up the hill and into forest. Strangely enough, this was the first time the quality of the night. The air was crisp, clean and frigid lacking the muskiness and dirtiness of his time. The sky held no clouds allowing unrestricted access to the stars and perfect tone of blackness surrounding each gem. It was baffled him how something so beautiful could exist while such corruption bled through the land. Then again may this was what the past lack that he hated its future for. Perhaps it was better this way, living in the past... No. He had a job to do in the present. He would make the guards pay for the poison they ingested willingly. He would cut their stomachs wide bled them of this toxin and purify them of their sins with that of his own. This wouldn't bring back the lives they've ruined, but it would make him feel better. But right now he had to get to that forest, hoping that Lucian was behind him with their gear.

Lucian waited for Isaac to bound down from the tower and grab Fiona before he finally made his move. He lunged toward the crowd, onto his front legs, smirking inwardly as they scattered, tumbling over each other in an attempt to retreat from the balverine. Then he turned sharply and bound out the now open gate, grabbing their gear and toting it behind him as he ran off into the forest, behind Isaac, content that none of the villagers would follow a balverine into the woods at night time. Surely they might send a party after them once the sun rose, but by that time, Lucian hoed the trio would be long gone.

Lucian finally came to a halt in a clearing Isaac had settled down in, setting down the pack of gear before finally turning his attention to the arrow still piercing his shoulder. He knew to transform back to human before removing it would tear his shoulder apart. He looked to Isaac, an imploring look on his face. He currently lacked the dexterity to remove the arrow himself, so he hoped desperately that Isaac could understand his look and, additionally, knew how to properly remove an arrow. Once it was out, his healing factor could deal with the wound, but getting it out first was key.

Isaac placed Fiona on the ground upon reaching the clearing. He didn't realize it before, but lifting another human being was tough work. He was panting heavily and was more than glad to have her out of his arms. His hands on his sides and looking to the sky, Lucian could be heard shifting closer towards the clearing prompting Isaac to greet him and the small little arrow in his arm. And upon balverine Lucian looking at him with helpless, yet frightening, face pleading for help on the matter of the arrow, Isaac only had this to say. "Your unbelievable. You a balverine for Avon's sake. You could rip man to shreds and you can't deal with a puny arrow." He groaned heavily as he readied himself. He placed a hand on his shoulder and his other on the arrow shaft.

"Ready?" After receiving conformation for Lucian to proceed, Isaac could immediately fell the constriction of muscles beneath his hands. This was a problem, but he still smirked having a plan to right this complication. "Okay. On three. One, two, three... Oh would you look at that." Isaac said briskly, looking at some randomly generated port of space, coaxing Lucian to do the same. This window of opportunity caught Lucian off guard just enough to get him to relax his muscles, allowing him to yank the little bugger out of his shoulder. Of course this was followed by a react from Lucian, he would be surprised form anything less of a troll didn't react.

"There we go. What do we have here." Isaac began to inspect the arrow for it properties, forgetting how he just pulled it from his companion's shoulder. Then again, he knew he could handle it. He checked the point, cleaning the blood off with his fingers to find that it was a simple metal arrow head, oak wood, and swallow feathers. Basic material, basic construction. It's shit, he thought snapping it in two and tossing it aside.

Lucian snarled threateningly at Isaac's teasing comment, a sound which quickly turned into a blood chilling roar as the arrow was pulled from his shoulder. As soon as the bolt was free, Lucian began the transformation back to human, a process only slightly less painful than the original transformation. Soon a man stood in the clearing where a balverine had been just moments earlier.

Lucian rolled his shoulder as he glared at Isaac. Already he could feel the wound beginning to heal. But that didn't stop the fact that it hurt like a sunovabitch. "Some time when you least expect it I'll get you back for that," Lucian said in a displeased voice as he watched Isaac snap the arrow in two and toss it on the ground.

The large man bent over his pack and began rummaging through his few possessions with his good arm, his injured one being held against his chest in an attempt to keep the shoulder still. In matter of minutes Lucian was clothed and wearing his suit of armor. His arm was already showing signs of improvement in that it could be positioned to put the armor on, despite the fact that it had immediately been replaced against Lucian's chest as soon as possible.

Once Lucian regained his composure, he cast a slightly worried glance at Fiona. "Well done, back there, by the way," he said over his shoulder to Isaac. "I was worried how you'd react to me being...well...what I am, but I didn't see us having many other options."

((Zzzzzz now. Mirror's Edge post tomorrow, promise!))

"You think I'd never seen a balverine before. Sure this time it was you who was the balverine and maybe I did think to plug you full of arrow like a pin-cushion, but lucky you suck at acting like a balverine. You didn't move enough... You didn't kill enough." Evan smirked knowing that Lucian couldn't truly harbor this kind of killer, blood-thristy instinct. He was much too kind for his own good. Even when he was injured and chased out of town and Lucian in the perfect position to rip them to shreds, he maintained his peaceful mentality, took the pain, and escaped. No matter how Isaac felt about his companion's philosophy, he couldn't help but be impressed by his endurance and his new ability. "Though... Something like that is a piece of information that usually goes under the category of 'Tell the guy your travelling with so he doesn't kill you in the future.' Just for future reference."

Isaac took a seat upon a bed of leaves, looking to the sky thinking of what their next move should be. They could chance staying here and awaiting first light before moving or they could move now and get as far away from the dangers of the village as soon as possibly. If only he knew the time that they were in. He could attempt to remember a bit of useless information he found in the history books that the guild had spent most of his life cramping into his head. But the only thing that could come close to recording the time happens to be hunting them. Isaac sighed heavily see the two's options slimming quickly. Looking at Lucian, whose eye glanced to Fiona from time to time, he figured his opinion would matter since he was the one to be caring Fiona. Let's face it, Isaac wasn't built a strong man. His skill set assigned him to the striker and scout among the two. "Lucian. You got any qualms about leaving now?"

Lucian chuckled at Isaac's comment. He knew when he had transformed there was the chance Isaac would have killed him. Lucian was relieved that his fear was groundless.

The large man rolled his shoulder gently, testing its stiffness. His face contorted into a mild grimace as occasional jabs of pain shot through his shoulder and down his arm. He shook his head, despite his pain, knowing it would soon ease as the healing continued. "No. In fact, I think it would be wise to leave now. I doubt the villagers would follow a balverine into the forest at night, but I suspect as soon as the sun rises, they will try to hunt me down. We should move while we can." Again he rolled his shoulder. "I can carry her but...how much longer do you think she will be unconscious?" Lucian asked, his lack of knowledge about anything medically related showing. It was hardly surprising, however. On the rare instance when Lucian was wounded, he healed on his own in a time period that put even the most advanced human techniques to shame.

"Beats me." He simply shrugged at first before he began to ponder the idea adding things up although he was no doctor. He rose off the pile of brittle leaves hearing them break with his efforts and walk over to Fiona. He placed a hand under her nose to check if her breathing was normal. There wasn't anything wrong with it as it didn't come in spasms and it wasn't rapid.Warming his fingers up as not to shock her awake with his cold hands. he pressed them against her the side of her neck. He once watched a doctor in Bowerstone do this to someone who fainted in the square. He didn't know what he was looking for but he found something. A pulsating under his finger. This must have been what that doctor was looking for. The beat was something but he didn't know what to do with it. He began to piece things together. He took his other hand and placed it on his neck. It made sense that a unconscious person and an awake person would have different beats. But, to his surprise, they weren't that different. As far as he could tell, Fiona had simple switched form being unconscious to being asleep without the waking transition. He took his hand away from her neck and his own and stood up. "Far as being unconscious goes she looks to simple be asleep. She could wake up at anytime. Or you could simple wake her with a loud enough noise or by shaking her awake. If not she will wake pro,bably when the sun comes up."

Isaac, having finished with his diagnosis, retrieved his bag, placed the loop around his shoulder, and armed himself with his bow. He recalled before he checked on the slumbering Fiona that Lucian had agreed that it was wise to move as soon as possible. Remembering this, Isaac couldn't have agreed more and was making the first move to get them on their way. "Right. So unless you have anymore immediate questions, we should get moving." He waited, hand pressed against a tree, supporting him as he looked to Lucian to follow suit.

Lucian nodded gravely in response to Isaac's question as he again lifted the small woman off the ground and hefted her up and onto one shoulder. "I agree; we should get moving as soon as possible. What I pulled back there," he hesitated, still feeling awkward about having to reveal the truth of what he was to Isaac so soon after they were thrust into this situation, "it's not something people easily or readily forget."

"No kidding," Isaac said releasing a audible chuckle as he began to walk further into the forest in the direction of Darkwood was. "You had me going for awhile. If I hadn't known better, you, my friend, would be loaded with a mess of arrows." It was quite a surprised though. He somehow knew that Lucian was different from the usually lot of Guild hopefuls, even back when he found him in the practice ring. At the time, Lucian was simply another incredibly strong guild apprentice, but in actuality, he was part of the beasts that he dreaded so much. It was an unnerving fact to live with, knowing that the man watching your back happens to be a bestial killer on the inside. Sure, Lucian was a nice enough person with a sense of chivalry which was non-existent in the time they came from, but a balverine, no matter what you do to it, is still a mindless killing machine if things got out of control. Isaac was going to keep his eye on Lucian. Waiting for any sign that he could put him in harm. An extreme selfish thought, then again Isaac was the product of a different way of life.

They had been weaving through trees for hours before finding something that resembled a road, though it was little more than a foot-trampled path of dirt, lacking the green that would have made it the same as the forest floor. The sun was finally flooding the sky with it's light as it rose further upwards. It was morning, finally. Isaac was tired, but kept walking onward, leading Lucian and their passenger, because he had to. He had his sword out, swinging it smoothly through the air, perfecting techniques and practicing others. It had dawned upon him that he couldn't always rely on his bow, or his gun noting that his munitions for this were limited. Thankfully, he had stocked some bullets and powder before falling into this mess. He was never going to be as good with the sword as he was with his bow, still it was a valuable part of his arsenal, his short sword, though only having used it a few times in the past.... Or future. Well, his past and his future. Gr... His past from the future that was so be. This went on as they three stayed their course.

((Just reminding you once you go on, Jess. It be your post. And yes, I'm just nagging you because GET ON WITH IT!!!! D8< ))

As the morning rays began shining more vigorously through the canopy of trees they walked through, the form in Lucian's arms finally stirred.

"Hold on, I think she's waking," Lucian said, halting and gently lowering Fiona to her feet as she groggily rubbed her eyes open. "Fiona? How do you feel?" he asked gently.

"I," she slowly swiveled her head around, taking in her new surroundings as well as her companions. "What...what happened? Where are we?" She lifted her left arm, noticing how the lower half had been bandaged. Slowly memories from the previous night returned to her and a look of pure grief came across her face. "My inn. It's - it's gone, isn't it?"

"I'm sorry," was Lucian's mellow reply. "I did manage to save this," she said digging through his pack to finally produce her father's sword, the tip still a dark red from the bandit's blood.

Fiona slowly took the sword, holding to her chest. She hung her head, ready for tears to flow. Tears that never came. She cursed herself for not being able to cry at the loss of her father's inn.

"I guess I'm coming with you," Fiona muttered, her chin still pressed against her chest.

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((Ok, so. I guess now that I /finally/ got that out you can either respond and we can do another post or two or you can just do the time skip to....where ever we were going. Avo, I don't even remember anymore.))

((WITCHWOOD. YOU WERE ON YOUR WAY TO WITCHWOOD. SOMETHING ABOUT THE CORRUPT HEROES IN THE GUILD AND GETTING MAGIC AND WHATEVER.))

Ismael the Monk wrote:

((WITCHWOOD. YOU WERE ON YOUR WAY TO WITCHWOOD. SOMETHING ABOUT THE CORRUPT HEROES IN THE GUILD AND GETTING MAGIC AND WHATEVER.))

((AND I WANT PICTURES OF SPIDERMAN ON MY DESK IN 5 MINUTES!))

As if by some miracle the silence was broken between the two and who other than the woman they brought with them from the town. This prompted Lucian to declare a halt, which he obliged without a thought, but kept his eye hone for anything suspicious about Lucian.

"So she wakes at last." Isaac tried to sound happily surprised but it wasn't really anything spectacular. The two already knew that she was physical alright, as she was breathing while she slept. So why would Lucian ask such a question asking how she felt. Oh, there was another meaning to that saying wasn't there. It wasn't all the surface aspects but the deeper impression that the events of last night might have done to her. Attempted rape, an escape from a burning building, seeing the place you once lived being destroyed.

The two talked for a few moments, enough to have a sword pass between them and for Fiona to do the crying thing... ... ... But there were no sobs. No heaves for air in a constricting throat. No tears of lingering emotion for her prized inn. Honestly, Isaac was surprised at this, figuring that she would surely cry and yet wasn't complaining in the least. No crying meant no pausing. No pausing, no time wasted. No time wasted, the faster they could go home.

"Great! Glad to have you along for the ride. Now if we're all set here, let's get moving. We got alot of ground to cover before night fall." With that out of the way, Isaac once again began to blaze a trail towards their next less pleasant destination.

Hours of walking went by in those woods. The sun played with the wind and leaves casting ever shifting patterns on the forest floor. Other times, it didn't even get that far, getting stopped by a thickness that blocked out the powerful raise. Color also came into play as the sun traveled across the sky. From a clear, crisp light to a orangery yellow infused with some red, they finally came across a sort of clearing containing a flat surface of stone adored with a face and a tunnel of stone. Most of the trees tops beyond the tunnel were wicked, black, and dead. At the mouth of the tunnel, Isaac came to a halt. He turned about swiftly and threw his arms high as if presenting them something large. "Welcome to Wraithmarsh, otherwise known as Darkwood in this time, I guess."

"In this time?" Fiona questioned as Lucian shot Isaac a scornful look.

"It's just an inside joke of sorts," Lucian tried to explain away Isaac's words, but received a dubious look as Fiona's response.

"So this is Darkwood?" Lucian said, peering past the rock to glimpse the gnarled, dead trees. "Dare I say it looks nicer than..." he haltered, glancing at Fiona, "it's counterpart?"

Fiona gave the pair another analytical look before turning her eyes to what lie before them. A small shiverer ran down her spine. "What would posses a person to willingly go to Darkwood?" She glanced from Lucian to Isaac, slowly realizing that was their very intention. "No. No no no. It's madness. No one who has any other choice ventures into Darkwood," she said, fear evident in her voice.

"We have no other choice," Lucian monotoned as he turned to Isaac with an 'after you' look on his face.

"Yeah! A joke." Aided in playing off his mistake, laughing weakly. What it wasn't easy to produce convincing laughs when you could feel eyes piercing you. But luckily the moment passed a quickly as it arrived, and hopefully with favorable results, for their sakes. But really what was the worst thing that could happen, screw up the future? As much as he or Lucian knew it wasn't doing to well for them anyway.

"Dare all you want, it's not going to change that fact of what it... is." He had to pause much like Lucian did to keep himself from referring to what it was to become. This was going to be tricky. He just had to stop comparing things, that's all. "It's still Darkwood. No matter how you looks at it." He trailed off walking around, limbering himself up for their journey, stretching his muscles and limbs, checking his weapons.

When Fiona began to flair up having understood the two's objective, Isaac took no mind to it. How could he? They had something to do and to do it they had to get through this dread forest no matter the horrors within. Even Isaac knew he didn't want to go but his and Lucian's hands were tied. Lucian had actually stated nicely, even adding the 'We.' Fiona's on the other hand weren't tied at all, rather see was more of a piece of yarn attached to them. Given enough strain it would snap. But were could she go, back to town. Through the bandit filled woods, good luck.

After finishing his preparations were finished and given the okay from Lucian, he started off down the tunnel to Darkwood. Within a few steps, Isaac proceeded with his plans, no matter who cared to follow. "When we get in there, keep with the pace and pay attention to any noises. Might save of lives. Fiona will take the middle spot. Lucian you take the back. I'll take us through. Hopefully, we can find a place to sleep tonight. Well, go over that if we get that fact. Would know..." He trailed off before starting against with a more mock spooky tone with the intention of scaring Fiona, being on edge already, "Or maybe we'll all be balverine food. Ha ha ha." In truth, it unnerved him to fight balverines in this of all places. But he had to act confident enough for his own sake.