Pay Your Debt (Berus)

[Cara]

Cara laughed. "Suppose that means you want a surprise." Cara felt an inner flame rising in the tips of her toes and slowly building up, and spreading to each portion of her body. It was an intoxicating feeling. As though her body were merely matching the res she had ignited. The tiny orbs of fire were hovering just above the palms of each of her hands. They illuminated certain portions of her face, while leaving others masked in shadow. It made Cara seem rather otherworldly. The wind was picking up and causing her hair to whip behind her. Cara smiled wickedly. "Do yourself a favor and turn around Berus, surely you don't want to know which of your limbs is about to be burnt off. FEELING it burn, after all, will be more than painful enough for you, and all the more fun to watch," Cara taunted. "Now, perhaps if you manage not to scream..." Cara's voice trailed off. If he continued to keep his mouth shut, she'd be certain to make his torment all the more painful. Not to mention, she'd find a way to get rid of his tongue, and thus his speech, permanently. When it seemed as though Berus would not run, as Cara had hoped, and he wouldn't speak, Cara decided that she had waited long enough. The time had come for her to start hurling fireballs at him. Of course, she had run out of mean things to say for the moment, and simply, went right into her attack. Cara drew back her right hand, and then threw the fireball at Berus. It whizzed by the right side of his ear. Crackling and hissing as it went. A steady stream of smoke floated up silently into the night sky behind it, one of the few reminders of the fireball's existence. The fireball had flown so close to the bard's ear, that Cara suspected it may have singed a few of his hairs. Cara's eyes sparkled, they seemed to reflect Snowsong's fear. She was certain she could see him trembling, but whether it was with cold or fear remained unclear. The snowballs he held seemed to shrink, as though he were gripping them more tightly. The fireball she had thrown had fallen a few feet behind him, to his left. It sizzled upon making impact with the newly fallen snow, and was soon, put out by the snow that melted around its heat. Spilling into the empty space it left in the ground. Cara cackled. "Don't you want to dance Snowsong?" Cara asked as she took a step closer to him. "Or are you too afraid to stand up for yourself? Stick to what one could only assume was your sad excuse for a plan. Two pathetic, shrinking piles of snow in each of your hands." Cara paused. "Are they trembling Snowsong? Afraid of how the heat will make them melt? For surely you don't expect to put out an entire fire with just the two of them." She paused again, and took a half step to the left. "Surely not even the likes of you is foolish enough for something such as that." Cara spread her arms out to her side. The fiery orb still hovered above her left hand, while the right was empty. The left side of her face was the only thing that remained clear. The right was buried in darkness, her long black hair curled around the edges of her chin now that the wind had stopped. "In which case, there will be no one to stop you. Throw your heap of snow Berus. Do your best to meet your mark. It is not as though you can extinguish anything with such a pathetic element." Cara paused. "Feel free to use it, nonetheless. No one is going to waste their energy trying to stop the likes of you from doing so." Cara took another half step to the right as she simply glared at her prey. "That doesn't mean, however, that anyone is going to stop trying to kill you. It would take far more than a pitiful snowball or two to keep that from happening," Cara taunted as she stopped dead in her tracks. "So make a few more snowballs if you'd like, build up a tiny arsenal of the bloody things... I'll wait, as long as you do it quickly. After all, they're not going to save you. Nothing, my dear, could possibly save you now." But of course, Cara was growing tired, if not somewhat cold despite the fire that glowed by her side, keeping her hand warm. She hoped that the fool would move swiftly, do what he will to protect himself, and then let her finish off the game.

[Berus]

Berus nearly leapt out of his skin as the fireball when whizzing past his year, singeing his hair and completely destroying his confidence in his ability to dodge the witch’s fireballs. That was fast! His mind raced as he sought other options that wouldn’t involve flaming body parts. His only way out of this was a rapid retreat, yet that option was hardly open as long as she was that accurate with those fireballs of hers. She would probably plant one right in the middle of his back as soon as he turned around. Perhaps a distraction was in order so that he’d be able to get away.

His eyes flashed a fierce blue, deciding on a plan that wasn’t entirely well thought through and was born of desperation and fear. He threw a snowball directly at the witch’s horrible smiling face, aiming to put it right between her cold, bloodshot eyes. Then, seeing just how she’d dodge, he launched the other right in the space where he estimated her stomach would be. The snowballs flew through the air, but Berus didn’t have time to stand and watch.

He twirled on the spot and took off running through the snowdrifts as fast as he little legs could carry him. He grinned a little bit, wondering if she’d fallen for his trick and been hit or if she was just observing him now as he fled. He could imagine her seeing him turn tail and run like a little boy, well; littler boy, and scurry off into the snow. Heck, he was even running right to mommy and daddy to get away from it all.

[Cara]

Cara dodged the first snowball, by twisting her body at the waist, and moving her head out of the way. The other one Berus had thrown dipped farther and farther down as it flew, and hit her right thigh. Her leg fat jiggled a bit upon impact, and the snow crunched into her skin. The snowball flattened, and then seemed to explode in every which direction, leaving a smattering of snow and ice bits on the side of Cara's black wool cloak. Cara growled, her cloak was going to get wet, and leave her body all the more open to the cold. "Bloody Berus, you're going to pay for that!" Cara spat when she looked up from her leg. Of course, Berus was no longer standing in the same place. He had turned his back on her and run. Cara cackled. "So now he wants to run," Cara mused as she walked forward, following his hurried trail through the snow. Cara was in no real rush. In fact, a portion of her wanted to draw out the chase, torture the bard for as long as possible. Another portion of her body however, was tired and cold, and just wanted to turn Berus into bard barbecue, and then get the heck home. Deciding that it would best to satisfy each portion of her, Cara picked up the pace and was soon trailing no more than ten feet behind Berus. Cara hurled her remaining fireball at him, but missed by about a foot. The fireball fell into the snow, and sizzled to an end. Almost instantly, after only a little bit of concentration, another orb of res appeared above Cara's right hand. She ignited the outside instantly, and hurled it at Berus. It merely whizzed by his right leg, perhaps he would hear it fly, and smell the smoke it left behind, but nothing more. Cara kept up the chase, for another ten minutes, and then all went dark. The night was still; silent. There were no more fireballs hurled in the bard's direction. Having passed a thin line of trees, Cara had stopped her rampage. She had run behind one, to be lost in sight. "Run Berus," was all she said. "Remember to run," she yelled despite her ceasing to fire. She wanted Berus to think that she was still in pursuit, was merely buying her time before she struck again. She wanted Snowsong's heart to fill with fear. For his body to tremble out in the cold. For his eyes to grow wide each time there was a sound in the night. Each time, he would be certain it was her. Each time, he would either pick up the pace and run, or stop in his tracks, gulp, and wonder when he was going to feel the burn. Wonder whether his time to die had finally come. Wonder if Dira was coming to shepherd his soul to Morwen's realm. But Cara wasn't coming after Berus anymore. She was slowly, and as silently as she could, slinking off into the night. Heading back to her hold, more than satisfied with the night's events. Of course, her heart was still pumping blood rapidly through her body. It was pounding madly in her chest, and her eyes remained bloodshot. She felt strangely happy, like she was floating, and yet, she felt so tired. Cold. She hoped Berus was still running; still filled with fear, when she opened the door to her hold and headed to her room. Within minutes, she had kicked off her boots, and pulled off her cloak. Cara hopped into bed, and wrapped herself in her down covers. She tucked them under her chin and looked up at the dark ceiling. "Perhaps that will teach the bard some manners. Remind him to never place bets he cannot win. To cease trying to slip through the fingers of the ones that play with fire," Cara whispered into the darkness. She was smiling amusedly as she thought of the bard still outside in the cold, wondering where she had gone. Where she was lurking. Shivering, his lips blue, teeth chattering, arms crossed over his chest to lock in heat. Perhaps he was rubbing his arms with his hands. "What a lovely picture indeed," Cara whispered as she rolled onto her right side, and closed her eyes. Surely his still being out there is punishment and lesson enough. Cara smiled. "Nysel claim me," she whispered, before she drifted off into a nightmare. OOCFeel free to wrap it up now, and then send it in to the lovely Chessies.

[Berus]

Berus kept running, even as a ball of fire went flying past his leg, igniting a small portion of his pants as it traveled by. He hardly slowed as he hurriedly slapped the spot and put out the little bit of flame. That passed and he just kept running, the voice of the witch echoing in his ears as he sprinted around trees and ducked under branches, circling around so that he could eventually be on a track toward home. Eventually, he thought he heard the witch stop. He kept running just in case she was taking a shortcut to cut him off so she could send some fire up his nose. Sure, he had some nasty boogers, but they didn’t deserve quite that extreme of a torture.

Berus finally calmed down, slowing his steps. She couldn’t still be following, the moon is up now. She must have gotten tired and left me out here to run around, he reasoned. He spent a few minutes walking, this time in a more-or-less direct route to where he estimated the Snowsong Hold was from there. He looked around, admiring the beauty of the nighttime Avanthal. Though it was very, very cold it was still one of the most peaceful places in all of Mizahar and that was something to be enjoyed when one found the time. He still clutched held two snowballs in his hands, however, not trusting the nighttime to not betray him to the witch. He reasoned that burns were worse than anything the cold could do to his numb hands.

There was a snap over to the side and Berus let one of his snowballs fly within the second! It hurtled through the air and struck the poor squirrel out of the tree. It squeaked angrily at Berus as it fell, but Berus was already running from the tree. This cursed night is going to drive me crazy! he thought, already forgetting his earlier notions about how beautiful it all was. Suddenly, everything around him seemed to be the witch trying to throw snowballs at him! To the side he thought he heard vicious cackle, so he veered away and into a tangle of trees. Behind him, he thought he heard the word “Nevermore” or something along those lines, but despite that it was nonsense to his ears, his legs still heard it and pumped faster beneath him. He had never been more afraid in his entire life.

There, in the distance, he spotted the Snowsong Hold. He looked left and right and, not seeing anyone, unashamedly sprinted the last distance with all of his strength. Fear and adrenaline pushed him beyond his normal limit as he pounded right up to the doorway. However, right when he entered the threshold his breath caught up to him. The world spun around him and he fell with his back against a wall. Ha… the witch couldn’t catch me… With that ‘victorious’ thought, he descended into a pleasant dream about falling asleep at the tavern listening to the old stories.

OOCAlright, this is it for us! Unless you're impatient I'll submit this when Cheshire has a little less on her plate though; this is a very, very long thread.

[Cheshire]

. Character: Cara Experience: Intimidation +1, Reimancy +3, Mathematics +1, Tracking +1 Lore: Seeking out Missing Workers, No Verbal Mercy, Presenting a Choice, Reimancy Overgiving, Being a Sadist Character: Berus Experience: Strategizing +2, Running +3, Observation +1, Weapon (Snowball) +2 Lore: Skipping Out on Work, Talking Big, Considering Your Death, Not Noticing that Snow is Water, Paying Your Debts in a Unorthodox Way Injuries: Burns on your hand that poured the drink. Burns will take 10-14 days to heal. Getting treatment from a healer will speed up the process. Additional Note: Berus, alcohol is flammable which is your hand got a burn. Other than that, great thread guys! I like that you should Cara overgiving. Not enough people do that. PM me with concerns. P.S. Thank you for calling me lovely.