Closed Heartbroken and a mage (Aello)

[Tanjun Vorot]

60th Summer, 512 AV A lone girl walked along the wildlands, at first glance only the lack of a backpack with necessities for survival was missing. What one could find strange was the fact that the weapon she carried on her back was much bigger then the person itself. If one were to compare her size to the weapon, they would only be able to conclude that it had to be a small kid, gender unknown because she lacked the curves of a woman. Up close one would notice the red, swollen eyes, the crumbled parchment in her hand and that she was mumbling to herself. The cause of the state of this girl lay within the contents of the crumbled parchment. It had been delivered to her when she had just gotten home again, after a day's work. 90th Fall, 511 AV Hello Miss T. Vorot, I'm sure that you remember me as the annoying guy who offered your brother a once in lifetime job and you must probably hate me for that. I have news for you which will make you hate me even more, we've lost your brother. It happened a few days ago. Our caravan was attacked by bandits and in the turmoil your brother disappeared. We haven't found a trace of him since then and must continue our journey. We assume he is dead. Greetings, Caravan leader Gringas. Tears welled up in Tanjun's eyes again. "Why brother, why? Why'd you take that job when you knew it was so risky? We could've found work in the city back then, I'm sure of it. You didn't have to take that risk.", she asked who knows who as her voice got a bit hoarse, "Didn't you promise we'd be together forever? Why'd you have to leave me?" Tanjun couldn't cope with what that message told her. She didn't want to believe what was written and had set out from Ravok to search for him herself. To her it felt as if her heart was ripped out, stamped upon and then totally crushed. Due to this, she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking and ended up stepping on a trap laid down by a hunter that was busy in the surroundings. The rope tightened around her ankle and because she didn't expect it, she went face-forward to the ground as her ankle went up in the air. The girl didn't have the strength anymore to resist anything and just started crying loudly, forgetting where she was and that, with a little effort, she could free herself.

[Aello]

With daggers in each hand, and a bow hiked onto her left shoulder, Aello moved through the forest. Silent as a lamb. Her lithe form weaving in and out of trees, guided by the light of her magic for many chimes, until she picked up on the soft flickering of a candle several yards to the right. It was then that she turned away from her task, and towards the source. Feet moving blindly now, as though she were being manipulated by a set of strings. It was not long before she found herself staring at a younger rabbit, a small smile playing on her lips. So the petcher got another one, and not of the variety he was looking for, she thought as she shrugged softly, almost to herself, before muttering something about what a lousy hunter some of the others were. And just to prove a point, she brought her dagger upward, sweeping it under the frightened creature, and to the thin rope which kept it aloft. Within several ticks the rabbit was free again, the strings now severed, it hopped off. Aello could only shake her head as she retracted her dagger. How many more of these traps intended for humans, presumably herself, would she have to encounter before they were taken away? Or all subsequently destroyed by her blades? The girl sighed as she rolled her eyes. There was another one that the magic could see, a few paces to the right. Frustrated, her fists balled around her daggers as she headed to the left. "When will they ever learn?" Aello asked herself out loud, as she shook her head a little. "As much as they may want to catch us, they never will. Only the young, unsuspecting animal, and the generally stupid..." The girl grit her teeth, as she continued on her way to Ravok. She could tell that this was going to be a particularly long day indeed.

[Tanjun Vorot]

The girl stopped crying for a bit as she knew that she had to get out of that trap. At least she was still partly on the ground, so she tried to grab her glaive, that was on her back, but due to the movement, the trap suddenly broke free of the branch which was holding it back. This caused that the girl shot up, her glaive falling to the ground as she had lost her grip on it. Dumbfounded, Tanjun just stared at her glaive. There was no way she could reach it now, she was too short of posture to even try to reach it. Unable to hold her anger and sadness any longer, she started crying again. She tried to pull herself up, even though her tears were still flowing, to try and untie the knot, but seeing as she hadn't had food for a couple days now, she didn't have the strength for this anymore. "Stupid Tanir, where are you when I need you?", she said softly as she started to sniff. "STUPID TANIR!", she then shouted. "Didn't you say you'd protect me? YOU STUPID BROTHER!" But even though she shouted, he still didn't show up. Thus it ended in her just crying again. She looked just like a small kid crying and suspended in the air.

[Aello]

The colors rippled, a soundless wave. Flashing violently as the shades shifted, soft reds becoming blues and sea grass greens. This one's even more upset than the rabbit, Aello thought as she hurried along, following a trail of fading steps. A soft gold, like silk spun of the sun which wound its way around the trees. The imprints were sloppy, as though the girl had tread through sand as opposed to hardened earth. The aurist supposed she must have been running when she made them, or rather heavy. It surprised her a bit then, when she finally happened upon the girl. Tanjun, hardly a woman in that she was several inches smaller, a tad lighter, and weaponless now that her glaive lined the forest floor as opposed to its scabbard. A baldric, by the look of things. The aurist's eyes trailed over it lazily, before settling on that of the girl strung up by her ankle. "Tuck your head in," she muttered as she reached for her cursed blade, and brought her left hand forth. It quickly spun around the coils; bringing uneven bristle against smooth flesh. At the same moment, her right hand had found the hilt. Her fingers furling around the black as she tore it from its sheath, releasing a nearly inaudible hiss as she drove it around Tanjun's form, and thrust it across the twisted rope just below her hand. The aurist bit her bottom lip as the metal glinted in the sunlight. As she was forced to drive the sharpened edge across the hemp strings. Severing many. She could hear it creaking as her arm began to tire, growing sore and heavy in feel. It was enough to cause Aello to bite down with more fervor as she tore away at the last of it, finally freeing Tanjun. With a simple flick of the wrist, a delicate flourish, the blade twisted in her hand as the rope fell alongside. Soon, each finding their berth, one in sheath, the other slithering across forest floor. Aello glanced down, extending her arms with her gaze. She intended on looping them beneath the girl's own arms to bring her to her feet, but she supposed if that wasn't possible, she'd simply offer a hand to help her off. Give a minute so she could brush herself off, and take her in properly, from a different vantage point. "Sorry about that," Aello muttered as she brought everything back into her sides, and allowed muddied pools to rake over Tanjun's form. "Those petchers keep setting these things as though it'll do their cause any good." She shook her head as she drew her tongue over the roof of her mouth, producing a tsk tsking noise."But no matter, they'll all be dead soon, and neither of us will have to worry about a damned thing." There was a pause. "Anyway, are you alright girl?" she asked. "You were told to tuck your chin, but still the fall can be a bit nasty if you're not ready for it."

[Tanjun Vorot]

The girl, heartbroken from the letter, meekly cooperated with the woman by tugging her chin against her chest. Usually she would've bit at any women trying to order her like that, no matter what. But that letter had just turned all her thoughts into one big chaos. She couldn't really think straight, let alone behave like she would usually. The moment she dropped to the floor, she let out a short, high-pitched yelp. It just had to be Tanjun's luck that she had to fall right on top of her glaive. The weapon survived easily, the girl's neck would most likely get a big bruise on it. "This day can't get any worse then it already is.", she thought to herself as she pushed herself up, rubbing her neck. Seeing the woman, who cut her down, offer her hand, the girl accepted the gesture and pulled herself up. One look at that woman did get her quite jealous. She had a perfect figure, or well... that's what Tan thought at least. "Th... thanks... eh, who are you?", she asked, her voice still shaking a little from the crying before. "I don't think you've seen my brother, have you?" Picking up her glaive after brushing herself off, she had to fight her tears hard again. She really missed her brother's smiling face. It was unfair. Why did her brother not listen to her when she told him not to go. She knew he really cared for her, but that still wasn't a reason to put himself in such danger. He should've just stayed in Ravok, they could both work together to get into the Ebonstryfe. Then they wouldn't have had to worry about money or the sorts.

[Aello]

"Aello," the aurist replied simply. "And whom might you be?" she asked, as she sheathed her dagger. Eyes raking lazily over the girl as she did so, searching her features for anything sinister she may be trying to hide. Finding nothing, she allowed her body to slacken a little as the vapors danced about their forms. A tick later, she was shaking her head. "Can't say so. Been out in this wretched forest for several moons, traveling from the southern end of the region to the north. Back to Ravok, where all this bloody madness began." Aello's head stopped shaking as she paused to catch her breath. "You're one of the few people to be seen in quite a while. Several miles worth I'd say." The girl shrugged. "Why? He go missing out in these parts or something?" she asked. "Because if that's the case, it can be a bit before you find him. But, he's bound to turn up sooner or later. Just have to be patient." Again she paused as she raised her right hand, raking it through her long brown hair. Pulling apart several of the strands that had woven together as her eyes fixated on Tanjun's. "But if you'd like, we could look for him together as we walk. Have several miles to go before I get to where I'm headed." The aurist offered the red-eyed woman a small smile as she slinked off into the line of trees. "Come."

[Tanjun Vorot]

Tanjun didn't reply right away. First she just followed the woman as she tried to suppress another big flood of tears. Being said that she had to be patient actually stung her. She'd been patient since the start of last years fall. Why was it that she had to be even more patient? Couldn't she get some slack? "I'm Tanjun Vorot... Brobro disappeared somewhere, I don't know where... I've... been.... wai....", she started to sniff and hick again. It was just impossible to hold back the sadness. "He disappeared in Fall. I've only recently received a message telling me this. Give him back, give me back my brother!" And yet again she started crying. The girl just couldn't cope with it. It felt as if her whole existence was being crushed. Her love disappeared. If she had known that this would happen, she wouldn't have fallen for him in the first place. Yet at the same time, she was glad that she did. Though the latter part didn't weigh against the sadness at all. "I.. shouldn't have fallen for.... him.", she hicked. "TANIR!" It was the cry of a girl totally desperate to get back, but just a tick later she seemed to calm down completely. Her whole expression had gone blank. Her grief started to really eat away at her. "I should just forget right? That way I won't have to feel these hurtful feelings...", she thought to herself, "Yeah, I should just go back to before I loved him. That way it wouldn't hurt." She gained a rather scary and crazy grin, as if she was about to do something really stupid.

[Aello]

As soon as she heard the words, Aello stopped dead in her tracks, and turned. To face the girl with the puffy, red eyes. She raised a single brow as her muscles rippled unpleasantly beneath a bed of paling skin. "You mean to say," she began, "that before he disappeared on you, you fell in love with your brother?" There was a pause, "and he for you?" she added, her voice sounding softer than before. Weaker. Inwardly, the huntress grimaced. Or he didn't and she did, Aello thought, before Tanjun had time to reply. Would give him more than enough reason to run and not return, considering what a crybaby she is. Her thoughts halted. For nor man or woman in their right mind wants a whiny little thing as a girlfriend. It was only then that she'd truly listen for the woman's reply, before nodding, no matter what it was, and sweeping onwards. Leaving herself to wonder just how it was that she had the fine luck to happen upon all the whiners and the crazies.

[Tanjun Vorot]

The girl didn't really look at Aello anymore. She was quite sunken into her own world. "Why didn't he listen? I told him that it was too dangerous, we could've gotten the money elsewhere.", she started talking to herself, "We've been doing fine for the past years. I would keep the girls at bay for him and work on the side, while he made sure we had food on the table." Once she finished that sentence, she started to slowly walk towards brown-haired woman. It was obvious that Tanjun had become totally oblivious towards her now. That's why she just walked straight passed the woman as she started mumbling again: "Stupid bro, once I find you, I'll make sure you regret disappearing on me. If I don't and you return, don't expect me to remember you though. I'm sick of waiting. Maybe I should just give up, it's not like he'll still be alive." The paper that she still had with her, then fell to the ground. It was the letter she had gotten to inform her of her brother's disappearance. It was all crinkled up and some letters weren't really readable anymore, because of the teardrops that had fallen upon it. "I wonder if there are any people around. I wanna have some fun before I start searching again... and I hope that they'll cling to life long enough.", her voice was still as monotone and dead as before, "I wanna hear them scream and beg before I'll cut that lifeline of theirs. Completely crush em before finishing em." The girl had gained a rather creepy smile as she started fantasizing about what she would do to the poor wretched soul if he or she would be caught by her right now. She also had started to bob her head from the left to the right slowly. "Come on out, victims. This girl here wants to hear you scream.", the more she spoke, the less feelings that voiced through her speech, "Don't worry, you'll only be in pain for as long as I can stretch your life."

[Aello]

Muddied irises trailed after the crumpled paper as it fluttered to the ground. The crackling edges, singed with deep yellow against a moon's white. Easily enough, the huntress bent and plucked it from the forest floor. Unfurling it as though it were a precious painting upon stripped canvas. Despite the expanding ink letters cast in the girl's tears, Aello could make out the majority, and began to truly understand just what was going on with her. The aurist sighed as she shuffled to catch up with the weeping. "You uh... dropped this," Aello whispered, as she prodded her back with a single unfurled finger. Only to have the hairs on the back of her neck stand at attention as her ears prickled. Her heart skipping a beat as every muscle in her body tensed. Rippling unpleasantly beneath a bed of paling skin. Gingerly, the huntress took a step back, so as to widen the distance between herself and Tanjun. To sneak away before she was noticed. There is something seriously wrong with this one, she thought. Something, very very wrong... Aello continued to back away slowly. Raising a foot before letting her toes down, and then rocking onto the heel before repeating with the other. Peering behind her from time to time to be sure she didn't step on anything that may make a noise, or back herself into a tree. From which there could be no, to little escape. Oh Dira, please don't let her notice me, she silently prayed, as she ventured another step back.