Fable - Ask Terse Words

A roleplay which may be open to join but you must ask the creator first
Eleanor stepped out of the room behind Edric and closed the door. She appreciated his small act of kindness even if it had just been a blanket. She made a mental note to see if she could track down another one before this evening so they could both have a blanket.

They walked down the hall in silence for a few minutes before she looked over at Edric and spoke again. "Do you have any idea where we are supposed to find clothes in this place?"

She was hoping they would've run into someone by now but the hall was suspiciously quiet. "It is way too quiet in here, Edric. Way too quiet." They needed to find clothes and then find out what was going on this morning.
 
  • Popcorn
Reactions: Edric
"I have an idea..." Edric said as they wandered down the hall, his gaze flickering over doors and different rooms.

He knew exactly what he was looking for, he just didn't know where they had put it in this particular castle. In theory there should have been half a dozen or so, but it was always different depending on every city. At least from what the Proctors had said.

As Eleanor noted the silence her frowned for a moment, nodding his head. "Yeah. It is."

He said with a frown, then immediately cut himself off before going.

"Ah." Edric motioned Eleanor towards a heavy steel door in the corner of one of the castle walls. There was no label on it, but Edric knew it for what it was. He walked over, lifting the latch and pushing the door open to reveal a room filled to the brim with empty weapon racks. "Well..."

He glanced at Eleanor. "Wherever everyone is...they took all the swords with them apparently."

That probably didn't bode well. With a quick motion he pointed towards a closet in the corner of the room, and before long the two Initiates were dressing themselves in Guardsmen uniforms.

"Better than nothing." He grunted, pulling a patch off his coat. "Let's get to the wa-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a devastatingly loud roar echoed through the air. The sound enough to shatter windows and shake the ground.

Edric's eyes popped open wide, shock painting his face.
 
Eleanor’s concern only grew as Edric found the room he had been looking for and the two of them stepped in. The empty racks meant shit was about to go down in the area. It made her go hmmm. She let him get dressed in the Guardsman uniform before she stepped over to the closet and did the same.

Ella was attacking her belt around her waist when Edric spoke about it being better than nothing. She agreed but she was unable to respond before the roar ripped through the castle.

“What the fuck?!”
Ella had been startled and stumbled into the wall. This was not good. It did not sound like the enemy had given up. In fact, their shenanigans yesterday may have doomed everyone even sooner.

“Let’s get out there, Edric!” The initiate took off out of the empty weapon room and headed in the direction they had come from yesterday.
 
  • Sip
Reactions: Edric
Edric didn't offer any argument, breaking into a sprint and rushing after Eleanor.

The two Initiates ran through empty halls. It seemed as though quite literally everyone had gone up to the walls. Every room was bare, every corridor devoid of life. It almost seemed as though the entire garrison was holding its breath.

When they burst out onto the wall and ran past the first parapet the reason why became obvious.

Edric saw it first, his head glancing out towards the army that yesterday had been ravaged by flame. His mouth dropped open, and his feet came to a rest. "Eleanor."

His voice was stoic, quick, attention grabbing.

Nothing else was said, as the Initiate found his words dead on the tongue. Beyond the wall, within the midst of the enemies army stood a beast. It's form cut an imposing, if not terrifying figure, towering over those around it. No wings adorned it's back, and yet the closest thing to what Edric was seeing could only have been called a Dragon.

The beast was massive, ten times as large as a horse. It's tail threatening to lash twenty men with a single strike.

It was that which had made the sound that shook the keep, that which had emptied the garrison onto the wall.

"That...wasn't there last night." Edric said, not able to keep the slight hint of panic from his voice.
 
  • Stressed
Reactions: Eleanor
Eleanor couldn't manage to form words as she looked out over the enemy camp. The massive beast was waiting for his command and they would all be decimated. This was not good. What was it? Where had it come from? How did you defeat it? These were all the questions flooding Eleanor's mind as she crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed her forehead.

"No, it most certainly was not. I feel like that is something we would remember very vividly." Her reply was curt and she felt her own panic rising in her. These poor people were already exhausted and there was no way they would be able to withstand a full attack from the dragon thing.

"What do you want to do?" She was one hundred percent going to let Edric take the lead on this one.
 
  • Stressed
Reactions: Edric
Edric looked over to Eleanor. His expression was an unreadable mask, but it was easy to tell that he himself wasn't quite sure what to do.

Lips thinned, and then a deep breath flowed into his lungs. "We wait."

It was likely not the answer that Eleanor would want to hear, but it was really the only thing that he could think to say. What were they going to do? Sally out from the walls with an army of emaciated guardsmen? No. That would get them killed.

"That thing...whatever it is doesn't have wings." That seemed like pointing out the obvious. "So it has to come to us."

He looked at her, offering a small smile. "So we wait..."

Edric tried to keep some confidence in his voice, a task he found rather difficult given the creature that lay beyond the wall.

For now though, the creature did not seem to be moving towards the wall. It only sat in the enemy camp, waiting. A threat of what it may yet do.
 
Eleanor hated this waiting game they were playing. She sighed and looked up at Edric with a grimace. He was right, of course. There was nothing they could do right now and the creature was not going to fly over and burn the castle. "I hate waiting..."

"Well,"
she started as she turned away from the view of the camp. "I suppose we should go find some food then. There isn't anything to do so we might as well eat..." She paused and looked around at the underfed soldiers on the wall, "hopefully."

To be honest, she was not even sure if there was food here. They might soon be on the way to starving along with the men and women who worked to guard the place. Fuck.
 
  • Popcorn
Reactions: Edric
For a few seconds he looked around the wall. His eyes settled on the soldiers, emaciated, little more than skin and bone. Something turned in his stomach, though he wasn't sure what. After a moment more he took in a breath.

Edric glanced at Eleanor, apparently having the exact same thought. "I think I had some jerky in my pack..."

He offered with a shrug.

It was likely that most of the men on the wall were still getting rations of some sort, but by the look of them they were bare as could be. "You can have it, I can...sustain myself by other means."

Edric decided that he didn't need to be any more specific than that. What his magic did was well enough known around the Academy, and nobody liked getting into the details. He cast another glance towards the creature beyond the wall, then looked at Eleanor.
 
"Um...thank you..." Ella spoke the words slowly and very tentatively. That was a very nice offer and it caught her off guard. She didn't like the idea of him having to use his powers to gain sustenance, but he could and she couldn't. She would die if she didn't eat.

She looked at the enemy camp in silence for several minutes. She worried about what was going to happen. Was this going to be the end of Eleanor and Edric? The unknown scared her and the waiting scared her more. Her mind had too much time to come up with worst case scenarios when she had time to herself. Never a good thing.

She looked up at Edric and smiled a weary smile at him. "If you even repeat this, I will kill you." She growled at him, "but I am really worried."
 
  • Cry
Reactions: Edric
He smiled, it was a slight smile, barely there at all. "Don't be."

Edric tried to exude confidence. Tried his best to seem like there was nothing at all to be concerned about. It was something he was good at, acting as though he had no worry at all in the world. It was the role he played most often at the Academy.

The confident card waltzing onto the sparring grounds. The one who the Proctors themselves had used as a blunt instrument.

"We'll get out of this." He told her quietly, reaching out and putting a gentle hand on her shoulder. "One way or another."

Edric knew that this might be their end. That they might die. That they might even end up as little more than forgotten defenders of this city, but that didn't matter. Neither of them needed that truth right now. Neither of them wanted to hear that. "I promise."

So he lied.

A lie that both of them needed to hear.
 
Edric was a terrible liar.

Eleanor was not going to point it out though. They needed some kind of hope and if they had to lie to themselves, they would. She brought her hand to her shoulder and placed it on top of his before she realized what she was doing. She almost immediately pulled it away again and crossed her arms again.

Her mind ran through the options of what they could do. It was limited. Sparring, working out, sleeping, practicing their magic. All of those - minus sleeping - took effort and she was really worried about the food situation.

Two weeks was going to drag by...or...the siege was going to happen and they would die. Both sounded terrible.
 
Edric ultimately settled on the one activity that didn't take much of any effort; sitting around.

It wasn't exactly his first option, nor really his...well it wasn't even on the top ten. They could have explored the city, walked around, but after some discussion he and Eleanor decided that sticking close to the wall was a good idea. At least until they figured out what was going to happen with that 'Dragon'.

So Eleanor and Edric had gone back to his room, collecting some of his rations before coming back and finding themselves sat behind one of the parapets. They had grabbed a soldier and asked for the Captain, now only waiting for an answer on just what they were supposed to do.

A tense silence had fallen over them, both Initiates likely thinking on all the nightmares that were yet to come over the next two weeks.

It was Edric who eventually broke the silence. "Do you remember where you came from?"

He asked softly. "Which territory I mean."

Edric knew that Davi and Dorian were from Coraliv, Kristen obviously from Vel Anir itself. A few of the other students had mentioned it before, though most did not know. Taken too young.
 
Eleanor bit into her piece of jerky and thought about his question. Was this how the two weeks would go? Getting to know eachother? Not that she could think of anything better to do.

"I always just assumed I was from Vel Anir, but I have no idea. I used to know before the proctors beat it out of me."
Her own voice was soft as she answered.

"I was kidnapped. I don't even know if my parents know what happened to me..." She trailed off and just stared at the piece of jerky in her hand. Parents were such a foreign concept to her. Zana had been the closest thing to family she had ever had and she had abandoned her so what did it really matter.

"Do you remember?"
Edric had been in her life as long as she could remember just like the majority of her classmates. They were a very fucked up bunch of siblings.
 
  • Sip
Reactions: Edric
Edric considered for a moment. Was it better to remember or not? He wasn't sure. "I remember."

He told her softly.

"I'm from Vel Stratholm." It was a city that did not evoke a pleasant image for many Anirians, having been the sight of a massacre by the state just a short few years ago. A massacre that very well could have seen his own parents dead. He had no idea. "My parents gave me away."

Edric had been older than most of the students when he'd been taken. His magic had been subtle at first, draining those around him at a constant slow pace. He'd been seven when they'd finally realized.

The Initiate glanced at his companion. "Maybe you're from Vel Akaten."

He jested. "Though I think you might be a bit too pale."

Most of the people here seemed to have a more olive complexion.
 
  • Cry
Reactions: Eleanor
Gave me away...

She didn't understand how a parent could give a child away. Their flesh and blood who they are supposed to love unconditionally. At least that is what she had heard anyways. It obviously wasn't true for all parents. Eleanor wasn't sure what to say to him. I'm sorry seemed so cliché and he wouldn't want her platitudes.

"I am not that pale, Edric." She cracked a small smile and felt some of the tension leave her. Just a little bit of it. "But I do wonder about them...my parents. What would my life be like if I didn't have magic or I wasn't taken..." Ella trailed off as she ate a little more jerky.

"What do you think of all the new changes now?" It was a sticky subject that a lot of people avoided, but they were alone here. She also knew that neither of them would ever repeat things they spoke of on this mission or did. It was no one's business but theirs.
 
  • Cry
Reactions: Edric
He wondered if all of them had some sort of fantasy. Some life that they thought about in the middle of the night. A dream of a better life that they had been denied.

It wouldn't surprise him.

Lips thinned for a brief moment as he considered, his eyes closing as he simply fell into his own dream for a moment. After what seemed like an age he heard Eleanor ask her own question, a frown settling on his lips almost immediately.

"I spent my whole life." The life he'd made at the academy. "Training. Fighting."

He slowly looked at her. "I became a killer. Not the best student. Not by far."

Edric knew he couldn't hold a candle to Noel, Eleanor, or Talea in that regard.

"But the best Killer." No one could deny him that. He was deadly, much more so than many of his peers. "Now after years of becoming one thing, they tell me its wrong. That it's not what they want anymore."

A shrug rolled over his shoulders. "So where do you think that leaves me? I'm a killer in a world where they want more."
 
Eleanor felt the exact same way that he did although she did chuckle at him admitting her wasn't the greatest student. It was very true. No one would want to copy off his assignments. It was also true that he was a deadly, but she wouldn't go so far to say the best. Not that she was going to say anything of the sort to him though.

"You are having the same issues I am having. They mold us into their ultimate weapons and now they want us to be little more than well trained soldiers in the army." She sighed and held the jerky out to him. It was his and she didn't want to eat it all. She would be fine for now.

Ella leaned her head back against the parapet and closed her eyes. She used to be so sure about everything and now she was sure about nothing besides the fact that she was a killer.

"Edric," she was bringing up the tough shit and she was debating if she should say this one or not. She decided to go for it. "If I am going to be stuck with anyone for two weeks, I am glad it is you." Her eyes were still closed as she just listened to the wind and the sound of the people around them.
 
  • Wonder
Reactions: Edric
Edric pushed Eleanor's hand back towards her. "Save it, you might need it later."

They still had no idea how long they were going to be here. That creature could come for the walls tomorrow, or in a week. They needed to be as strong as possible when the time came, and unlike her Edric didn't need food to make that happen.

He just needed the enemy to get up those walls.

Eyes flickered over towards her as she spoke his name, a small smile touching his lips for a brief second as she uttered her compliment. For a few seconds he stayed quiet, and then he leaned his head back against the cold gray stone.

"Me too." Honesty was hard for all of them. For so long they had seen each other as enemies, as obstacles to overcome. Just a year ago he and Eleanor could have ended up as enemies, opponents in the final test on the Tower.

Now it seemed almost like they were becoming friends. Funny how that worked.
 
The two initiates stayed quiet for a long time. Eleanor may have even dozed off from the boredom once or twice. This waiting game was killing her already. She may jump off the wall herself before the enemy warriors had a chance to attack again.

The redhead didn't remember falling asleep but she woke up with her head on Edric's shoulder. Ella felt heat rise in her cheeks as she murmured, "sorry about that." Edric was a decent pillow though. She looked around the wall. It did not seem like much of anything had changed and she just rubbed her forehead again. It was her nervous and or stressed habit. She seemed to be doing it a lot on this mission.

"If you could be anything in the world besides a killer, what would you be?" She needed to go back to a lighter conversation topic for bit. She wasn't sure if that question really was any lighter though. Perhaps the deadly boy had a secret hobby that no one knew about.
 
  • Wonder
Reactions: Edric
Edric wasn't entirely sure how many hours they sat there. It had been nearly dawn when they'd rose, and by the time Eleanor awoke the sun was once again drawing close to the horizon.

The Guard Captain had come by as Eleanor slept, though what he'd told Edric had shockingly changed absolutely nothing. It seemed that the soldiers knew about as much as the two Initiates, and worse they were even more terrified.

Whatever that beast was had apparently come from deep in the Savannah, and now that it was here the Governor suspected it would be used to smash down the gate.

Not that Edric even really thought about that.

His mind instead had roamed towards the future. Not what would happen after the siege, not even if they would make it out, but what graduation would mean. He had known things wouldn't be the same for a long time, but, it seemed even more off now. Though he wasn't sure why. "It's alright."

Edric said with a glance to Eleanor. "I wasn't going anywhere."

A smile flickered over his lips.

He had never really thought about it before. Missions alone with the others hadn't exactly been common before the Revolution. They had been too young then, with most missions being escorted by a Proctor or one of the older students. Now that he was spending time with the others alone.

They were becoming a lot more...tolerable. What did that mean? What would that change? Would his plans have to shift?

"I don't know." Edric said in answer. "I've never really much thought about it."

He'd always had a singular goal, something he set out for himself. Thinking of other paths, roads that he would never walk...it had seemed pointless to him. "My father was a mason. So I guess I would probably do that."

It seemed like a reasonable thing to do. "What about you?"
 
Eleanor picked up the jerky that she had dropped in her lap while she slept. She picked it up and bit off a piece. Her stomach was grumbling and this would at least help stop that. Hopefully.

She knew he would ask her about what she would do and she had no idea. Like him and everyone else, it wasn't something they had ever been able to entertain. Their life had been set in stone and now that life was different. It worried her.

"Hmmm," she started and slipped the piece of jerky into a pocket. No need to stare it and eat it all. "I like to read and write so I guess something with that?" The end was definitely stated as a question. She had never told anyone that she enjoyed reading or writing in her time off. She figured Zana knew, but she had never spoken about it outright.

Zana...Zana would know what to do, she sighed and shrugged. Life was way too complicated now. She liked the ease of before and knowing what her life would look like. Easy and uncomplicated. Granted, she could still be a Dreadlord but even that title meant something different now.
 
  • Wonder
Reactions: Edric
Edric chuckled. "Maybe a librarian then, like Illan"

He tried to picture Eleanor with those large telescoping glasses that Archivist Illan tended to wear. A laugh echoing from his lips as he looked at her and shook his head.

It was hard to picture her that way.

"No, no." Edric said with a shake of his head. "I don't think librarian quite suits you."

He told her quietly. "Maybe a writer fits better."

Edric mused for a second. "You could write the tale of a Dreadlord in the Revolution. The tortures we endured, and the changes we saw."
 
Eleanor laughed with Edric at the thought of her in the ridiculous glasses. She couldn't see it either but it did make for a nice change from silence and worry. A short change, but a change nonetheless.

She thought about his suggestion and it actually wasn't a bad one. A look at the pre and post revolution academy and maybe Vel Anir as a whole. Eleanor would be a good person to write. Someone who lived through both sides as well as the changes as they happened.

"That's actually a really good idea, Edric. I am sure I would make a few enemies though and then I could kill them if they tried to come after me." She let out a low, wicked laugh before she spoke again. "Best of both worlds."
 
  • Sip
Reactions: Edric
"I do have good idea from time to time." Edric admitted with a pat on his own back.

He had never much been one for reading, but it seemed like a book like that needed writing. Who better to put it to paper than one of them? Though he doubted even the Revolution would want it to see the light of day if they had a choice.

A smile touched his lips as she laughed. "There you go, adding to the end of the story already."

Edric took in a long breath, shaking his head and deciding that was enough dreaming of the future for one day. With a hand he quickly reached up, grabbing the top of the parapet and pulling himself to his feet. A moment later he offered his palm to Eleanor. "Come on, lets go find the Governor."

He said. "I have a question I want to ask her."
 
Eleanor hesitated for a moment before she placed her hand in his and allowed him to help her to her feet. She liked being around him and it was a strange feeling. It would end though and they would go back to their stony silence once they returned home or they died. A small part of her hoped they may still have this budding friendship though. Maybe she could have a normal life.

She nodded and they took off to find the Governor. They left the wall and went down the stairs the same as they had the previous evening. Eleanor led them to the door that led to the Governors office.

Once they were allowed entry, Ella let Edric take the lead and she followed in a step or two behind him.
 
  • Sip
Reactions: Edric