RP:Two Prizes for the Price of One
Part of the Chasing Lightning Arc
Along the Cliff
Ayras stands at a particular point there at the cliff, a point that seems to sink lower than the rest of the ground around it. Silver eyes simply stare at the ever-present snow, his metal fingers stroking his chin while his other hand fidgets with a rather bony something.
Satoshi moves along the cliff path, expression buried in thought and body enshrouded in a thick cloak of mists. She's just come from visiting the ruins and overseeing the reconstruction work taking place there, a fact that should have her in a cheerful mood as everything moves along nicely. But other things, things unseen by most, have turned the kit introspective. "The devil's in the details, they sa- Well," Satoshi stops short, having spotted Ayras. The sight of the swordsman draws a grin across her face, enough to give her whiskers a slight tilt. "Speak of the devil, eh? Although not the devil I was thinking on."
The metal-winged man sports a grin as that voice reaches those pointed ears of his, his hand ceasing in fidgeting as he shifts his head to look towards the Kit. "Devil, eh? Haven't been called that in a while."
Satoshi rolls her eyes, all pensive appearances evaporating in the presence of her former knight-captain. "I called you that and far, far worse last time, when you made off with a piece of that Kirin, you just weren't within earshot to hear it~." It's true too. When she'd returned to the Kirin's carcass to find its horn missing, Satoshi had thrown a fit of swearing and violence on a degree that would make a belligerent drunk sailor look like a romping kitten. That poor clearing had gotten a far bit bigger by the time the magus was done hurling slabs of ice, all so that she could flop over in the snow and grumble irritably to the stars. Leave it to Ayras to have that effect on her, with such a small gesture of accidental thievery.
Ayras grins like the devil he's being referred to as, strolling over to the Queen to ruffle her hair like a child. "My, but you do know how to flatter a fellow, don't you?" And that's when he tosses the kirin horn up in the air for a flip before it falls back down to his waiting palm. "And you mean this piece, yes? Well, Queenie, here it is."
Satoshi's eyes follow the horn's path with a gleam of eager light. There it is indeed. Almost too late, Satoshi catches herself and adopts an aloof nature, as if she couldn't give two licks about the near priceless item. "Yes, that piece. I was surprised you took it. A Kirin's hooves are far more useful, and don't get me started on what you can get out of its -hide-. Why you took its bit of face decor is beyond me~." She doubts Ayras is buying this...
Ayras was too busy watching the horn's rise and fall to catch Kit's gleaming eyes, but that doesn't mean he isn't laughing by the time she stops speaking. "If I need gold, I'd just go swipe a stone or two from your castle to sell. As it is, I'm sure a kirin horn has plenty of nifty uses. I just haven't decided what to do with it, yet." Ah, there's his cocky smirk, forming just as his eyes settle on Satoshi's. "Why? Were you planning something for it?"
It was bloody cold here... Hours wandering in the current temperature hand the man stumbling about, blue lipped and agitated. And he was hungry to boot! Whatever the discomfort however did not stop him from tensing at the sound of voices along the cliff ahead of him. A narrowing of eyes permits slightly better visibility through the drifts the wind was whipping about. A male: dense stature, probably a fighter. And a female: Somewhat smaller, wrapped in something that shimmered in the clouded light and making efforts to not seem like she cared about whatever it was they were talking about. The vulpine edges closer, his right hand reaching around to the small of his back for the handle of an ax that was broken. As that fact hit him he glowered, choosing instead to activate the kinetic reservoirs in his gauntlets and let hum to life the slightly darker than air claws that he was beginning to rely on. Closer still, to a point where he could finally hear the conversation: Something to do with a Kirin? What in the High Father's name was that?
Satoshi lifts an eyebrow at Ayras' question. "If I said yes, and that it'd be used to save a school of orphans, would you believe me?" A pause and a frown. Who is she kidding here? "No, of course not. That'd be a blatant lie. But it -would- be truth, if I said yes. That horn is one of the few materials that will work for the hilt of a blade I'm having made for Kasyr, due to its properties of not only enduring but channeling raw lightni-" The kit stops short as her whiskers go rigid and quivering. Something in the air has shifted, not quite natural, not quite arcane, but enough that Satoshi picks up on the flux in tension like much the way a rabbit senses a predator's preparation to pounce. Having recently departed Frostmaw, the queen has not rewoven the intricate ties with the land's nervous system, preventing her from using the snows as a means of detection and thus pinpointing the source of change. If she had to guess, she'd say it was one of the ruins' Ice Devils on the prowl, and being familiar with how these creatures hunt--by attacking from the direction you're not looking--Satoshi refuses to visually search. She will wait, and resume her conversation for the sake of appearing oblivious. "Ahem. Lightning, sorry. The horn is perfect for it."
The horn goes up and down once more before the winged man shrugs, tossing the thing over to his Queen. "Well, it's at least more than I'd thought up for it." Ayras is such a fickle beast, however. Now that he's handed over the horn, it seems he's become ADD. "See you around, Satoshi." And nothing more is said before he spreads those mechanical wings of his and takes flight.
Azakeal moves closer, though his steps are becoming more sluggish by the second and those kinetic claws are beginning to flicker. There simply wasn't enough heat here. He needed the rapid vibration of agitated particles, not this... Frozen nonsense. Just couldn't cope. As he comes into true viewing range of Satoshi he crashes, his heavy form hitting the flat of the cliff and slipping towards a rocky demise.
Satoshi is not expecting Ayras to relinquish the Kirin horn so easily, and so she's caught off guard when he tosses it to her. Hands lunge out in reflex toward the object as it tumbles in the air, claws scrap along its sides, finger grasp for it... and she misses. It's juggled right out of her hold to be sent spinning off the side of the cliff. "No!" Satoshi's cry is not merely a sound of dismay. The words are laced with arcane command, willing the ice encasing the rocks to react and stretch out to form a shelf to catch the horn upon. And the slipping form of Azakeal before he plunges off the cliff entirely, purely by chance. But dammit if the double catch doesn't look dramatic. Satoshi stares, uncertain of what to make of this sudden shift in events.
Azakeal is kinda... ya know, unconscious. So he just lays there, subconsciously wondering where the random hard bed came from.
Satoshi, with no one to see, allows herself a few more moments of baffled staring before she recovers, puts on her amiably neutral mask, and shuffles toward the unconscious form. The Kirin horn is picked up and stowed away first, its value to Satoshi being far more than a half-dead stranger she's accidentally saved--selfish, thy name is Satie--before the fellow is given a light nudge with the toe of her boot. "Oi. If you decide to die, I'm dropping you off the cliff properly, just so you're aware." Aware, she says, to an unconscious person. Glancing around in hopes of seeing the approach of this man's traveling party, Satoshi sets about directing the ice slab to place him upon the cliff-side path. It's hardly a safer place to rest due to its narrow size, but it hardly feels proper to leave the poor guy dangling in the air.
Azakeal , in a strange moment of lucidity reaches out for Sato's boot and says, "Help... Me..." As his strength fades further, his human form fades away, body shrinking and distorting into four legs and big ears, a sand fox obviously out of place in this frozen hell.
Satoshi looks from the prone fox to the snowy skies. When she looks back to Azakeal, her bewilderment has been replaced with a quiet resignation. "Since you asked so nicely, and because I can't leave a fellow fox to die..." Satoshi crouches down to scoop up the tiny form and tuck it into the crook of her arm, the oversized sleeve of her coat functioning as something of a blanket to ward off the cold. With this, the foxkin heads off in the direction of Frostmaw and the warmth of its tavern, where many travelers take refuge after being bested by the land's harsh weather. Drargon will know what to do with this one, no doubt.
Frostmaw Tavern
Azakeal was carried here, and is still an unconscious fox...
Satoshi sets the fox up on a chair near the fire while she goes to the bar to speak with Drargon. The Frost Giant gives his queen an odd look when she explains the fox's condition, and is even on the verge of asking why she'd bother rescuing some random animal, when she cuts him off with a low, "Don't even. I know about the hatchling you rescued and are keeping here. This doesn't make you soft, nor me." The barkeep scowls in defeat before turning away, off to fetch the necessary revival supplies: a bowl of his hearty rabbit stew, and a low bowl of Ice-Breaker Rum--sure to put hair on the chest of even the burliest lycan. Satoshi accepts the bowls with a smile, makes her way back to the armchair, and places them down near the fox's snout. The scents alone are potent, known for bringing the fainted back around after just a sniff or two.
Azakeal :: It wasn't the smell of the bowl of soup but the warmth of the fire that brought him back in a rather rapid manner, his smaller body absorbing the excited particles ad nauseum. First his eyes open, then his legs stretch, then he stands... Then he shifts, his human form returning in a flash, clothing not included. He doesn't seem embarrassed. No, rather he tugs on his right earring, summoning forth a pack. If she paid attention, Satoshi would notice that theres were three gems imbedded in his forearm and the longer he sat there the brighter they would glow. He avoids eye contact with pretty much everyone until he has pants firmly in place, then runs a hand through sun bleached hair and offers it glances at Satoshi. Now the embarrassment hits, "Umm... You the one what carried me in?"
Satoshi's eyes trail over the now humanoid stranger's body, the look one of scholarly observation rather than what might be typical when one is staring at a naked man. The trio of gems do, naturally, catch her eye a moment longer than the rest of him, both for their simple beauty and the unusual placement and glow. Satoshi finds them curious and its reflected in her eyes when the vulpine looks her way finally. His question receives a quick nod as her hand lightly nudges the stew bowl toward him, saying by way of explanation, "It will fortify the strength the cold sapped from you." Accept it or not, the foxkin moves to sit in the nearest chair, where she props her chin upon a bridge of interlaced fingers. Amber-flecked eyes stare at him a moment, her face unreadable, before she says in blunt tones, "By all rights you should be dead. The fall off the cliff would have killed you, if not the cold in short order. Frostmaw's climate is as deadly as its people et its wildlife, it has claimed many who came unprepared to endure it." Such as you. She doesn't say it outright although her tone hints heavily at it.
Azakeal chuckles, though his eyes are stuck on that soup with a little distaste lacing his squint, "I'm from a bit of a different climate, yes. Thought that my substantial ability to withstand the sandsea would prepare me for this place." Thoughtfulness enters his expression as burgundy irises land on the fellow fox-kin. "Being here was necessity though. Maybe you can help me to find someone..." He stops, coughing up another embarrassed grin, "I'm asking for a favor and I haven't even introduced myself. " He offers a hand, "Filp- Er, Azakeal Eckard."
Satoshi eyes the offered hand in a similar way to how Azakeal had eyed the stew, only grudgingly complete the gesture as common courtesy demands. Azakeal might discover just why Satoshi dislikes handshakes when contact is made, for the magus' skin is as cold as the snows outside and with that same energy-sapping sensation. The trait has long since taught her to refrain from handshakes whenever possible to avoid the uncomfortable reactions of whomever she's speaking with. "A pleasure, Azakeal Eckard. I'm Satoshi Azakhaer, in return. Who es it you're looking for~? If they're in Frostmaw, I tend to know how to find them."
Azakeal had taken in enough heat that he had more than enough to give, her hand was still icy to the touch though. Rather than pull away however, he grasps her hand and gives it the friendly shake he had intended, the contact pulling his heat until the gems on his arms begin to dim. At that he pulls away. Shrugging on a shirt, "So tell me, Satoshi..." Once the tee is free of his head and his eyes are on her face once more he continues, "What is the queen of Frostmaw doing rescuing sand-kit from eminent demise? Don't you have emissaries for that?"
Satoshi flashes the vulpine a fanged grin. "If I'm unwilling to do such work, how could I rightfully demand my people do it? Really, what kind of hostess would I be, if I let my guest die at my feet while I stood idle~?"" A musical thread of laughter escapes the kit then. "I know other places function differently when it comes to royalty, in Frostmaw, however, we're all expected to work to survive. I'd rather be traipsing through the forests listening to the song of snowfall, or scrapping with a Winter Wolf in the colosseum to the roar of my warrior audience, than sprawling on my throne being regaled with over-inflated legends by a boot-licking and equally inflated minstrel, anyway." Lady-like Satoshi may appear, yet the blaze in her eyes and the passion in her voice makes it obvious that it takes more than bit of nobility to gain the throne of Frostmaw.
Azakeal chuckles, Sliding his gauntlets into place over the gems in his forearms. "That reason, in particular is why I've been looking for you." The next thing to be pulled free of the pack is a longsword. (Mary Poppins yo) The male takes a knee, the point of his sword resting in the hardwood beneath him as his left hand encircles the pommel and his right touches the floor. He leans forward and places his weight on his right, his head dropping in respect. The hilt of his sword flashes in the firelight, the engraved initials FD pronounced along the ebon inlay. "I pledge to you my sword, milady, yours in times of need. No monarch has the man met before that he has respected as much as that of Frostmaw." He grumbles slightly, "And I gotta thank ya for saving my life somehow."
Satoshi blinks, not expecting this at all, but manages to recover quickly and accept the man's pledge with a gracious nod. "I'm honored to accept the might you and your blade, master Eckard, especially in trying times as we currently have. So long as you stay true to your words, the aid of Frostmaw is yours to call upon should you need it, in return." A few of the Frost Giants present glance toward the scene, frowning at first before nodding in silent approval. Another fine sword has found its way to Frostmaw, their expressions seem to say. Putting the slightly stilted and formal words aside then, Satoshi leans forward to add with a wink, "We are a warrior's people, honoring Aramoth in combat. We protect our brothers in arms, so long as our brothers don't get into foolish messes they've earned and deserve."
Azakeal snorts, "Oh, I get into messes." He raises, "But I've been good at keeping my name clear here for the past decade... I think I can manage, aye?" He smirks, sheathing and belting his blade before popping a gem free of its pommel. The sapphire is dropped on the table as his pack is lifted and shouldered, "Should you ever need to reach me..." He bows out then, departing the tavern with reservoirs full.
Satoshi salutes the vulpine as he departs. "Until then, Sandfox. It was a pleasure~." Once he leaves, Satoshi picks up the sapphire and begins rolling it between her fingers, absently watching the firelight play off its facets while her magic quietly investigates it, her caution never truly idle enough for her to ignore the dangers of trap or tracking spells. Between examining the stone and mulling over the exchange, the foxkin's mind is thoroughly occupied for the time being.