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Jollanel walked with haste in his steps. Cutting through the back allies of Asper, he was hoping to recover the wasted time he was held at the hospital if he wished to at least catch the teen as they entered Desdon. But he couldn’t blame the doctors and nurses who were on duty; the militiaman had been shot after all. Besides, being able to leave immediately would have been suspicious.

But that wouldn’t have mattered.

Turning the final corner out onto the main artery, the house could be seen up the road. Something caught Jollenels eyes just then: the lights were on inside. He swore that those were turned off before he and Rusty left through the back to flank the battle just outside. Of course, it was a battle; they could have left the lights on without ever noticing in their haste. But as soon as he got to the front porch, a new small in the air hit his nostrils; no mistake, there was someone here.

He creped in, steadily opening and closing the door.

“Jollanel.”

He froze, taken by surprise by the all too familiar voice.
Sheathing the claws that sprouted from the excitement, Jollanel turned to a figure sitting erect on the sofa.

“Call it the sixth sense the humans like to brag on about, but somehow I knew, despite my best efforts, I would run into you tonight.”
“Remus.”

Rumus leaned forward, being more casual. “It’s good to—“

“Cut that,” Jollanel snapped at him. He took up the seat across the short table from Remus. “So, what’s the reason you entered my house at your free will at this late hour?”

Unsuccessful with his first attempt, Remus went back to sitting erect. “I’m doing what I said I would do at the announcement; interview the teens going to the trials and their household. In this case: you and...” He shuffled through a small folder he had brought with him, “Rusty Tokana.”

“Insane. You also said starting tomorrow morning and throughout the week.
Don’t tell me: The Council put you up to this. They’re excited to learn what type of skills I’m able to pass on.”

“I was required to do this interview on the night of the celebration. I can’t say more than that—“

“No. That’s not it.” Jollanel’s voice dropped down to low, serious, almost biting tone. “Those old bags of fleas have taken increased interest in my livings after the explosive reaction from my resignation three years ago.”
Jollanel cracked a smile at the victory. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

Leaning back into a more casual position, almost as if he was expecting this, Remus sighed. “Nothing gets past you, does it Jollanel?”
“In any case, I expect you’ve trained Mr. Tokana well, as you always seem to do. Shall we get sta—?”

“No.”

“Wha- What do you mean, ‘no?’”

Jollanel sighed, “There is no other meaning for the word, Remus; we cannot start your little interview. Rusty isn’t even here.” He unhooked one of his equipment bags from the closet near the front door and started filling it with things he thought might be useful. “In fact, we shouldn’t stay here any longer; you and I have work to do.”

“What do you mean, ‘we?’”

“Again with that question, Remus.”
“…I know you have your little rules that you must follow; don’t forget where I was years ago. What I’m about to ask you is a direct violation of those rules: I need you to help me take my own action against the ASRH.”

“What!!?” Remus shot up. “You know as well as I do that—“

“You have your rules to follow. I just said that.”

“And it’s crazy. What sort of damage do you think you can do on such a group as the ASRH? Nothing!

Jollanel brutally palmed the wall radiating a loud BANG through the house. He racked his hand along the wall, releasing the claws that gripped it. “The ASRH has changed the way they operate; a more direct approach is what they’re using to meet their goals. As scarce as they were, I’m sure the Council has gotten some reports of the recent activities in Tyran. Well, I might have a lead: just tonight, some pawns targeted Asper’s citizens with increasing violence as the night passed. Apparently they are after charged stones, but I can’t shake the feeling that the ASHR is pulling something far more wicked.”

Remus felt a bit stunned. The first fact was that of Jollanel’s report about the ASRH, they never operated in the open. At least, not as open as what Jollanel said.
The second was the fact that he couldn’t go against Jollanel, even after he had stripped himself of the high rank in the Council.
“You want to go against them by yourself? Now?

“Now, yes. By the time we go through all of your procedures, we’ll be too late to catch them. Rusty and a group we managed to form are on the trail of the men who targeted Asper.
By myself, no; you’ll be with me. I imagine you have a partner with you. Am I right?”

“I never agr—…” There was no hope. Jollanel had won him over.
“There’s my partner. She’s resting at the apartment.”

“Well then, let’s go wake her.” Jollanel zipped up the bag and hauled it over his shoulder. He held the door open for Remus. When he passed, Jollanel whispered: “Thank you.”

“This is a second one you’ll owe me, you old coot.”

“Fair enough.”

After an hour and a half of walking, checking their surroundings, and keeping their guard up, the group arrived at the fork in the river, where the Astran River split into one of its tributaries. It was here where they would make camp for a few hours, and then continue on their way to Desdon by following the Astran River, which would take them straight to Desdon. Akari wasn't sure how long exactly they'd be there, but he figured that it shouldn't be a lot longer than five or six hours, enough for them to get a decent amount of sleep. They'd probably be in Desdon by afternoon if they did that, maybe the evening if they took their time. However, they all needed rest, and the last thing Akari, or any of them, for that matter, wanted was to be dog-tired by the time they got to either Desdon or caught up with the muggers, whichever came first.

"OK, guys," Akari began, "we're making camp here. Rest, but don't take too long. Six hours at most. I'd suggest you get settled in as soon as you can so we can be off as early as possible, tomorrow."

With that, Akari headed over to the nearest tree, sat down beside it, and leaned his back against it. He wasn't going to sleep that way, but he was going to at least get his thoughts together after the hectic day he'd been through. Meditation was one way he'd learned to do that, thanks to Jollanel, who had often helped both him and Rusty at the same time with preparation for their trials. He normally meditated to music, but seeing his current lack of a CD player or portable music player of any sort, he had to do it by focusing his ears on the sounds of the natural surroundings, the crickets, the frogs croaking near the riverbanks, and the sound of the flowing water of the river near them.

[First post. This is like starting on an entirely new school. You're nervous and can't think of much to say xD Oh well... short intro post.]

Anayu opened an eye at the noise, hearing someone talk about setting up a camp. She glanced to her left from where she had been sleeping on a branch and watched the group of people. She quickly climbed up to a higher branch as one of them were heading toward her tree, hoping she wouldn't ruffle the leaves too much.

The group of humans that had passed by her earlier, and now a group of anthros setting up camp at this hour... Well, something was going on. She checked on her supply-pouch, hanging on her left shoulder to ensure that nothing could fall out of it. In her haste, she'd ruffled some leaves by accident.

Great, she thought. Now I've probably already been noticed...

She still remained hidden where she was, hoping that she'd go unnoticed for now. A hope which lasted for about five seconds as the branch broke and she came tumbling down, hitting the ground behind the tree with a loud *thud*.

(I'm not going to have a very long post, here, since I'd like to have the other characters react their own way. In essence, I'm giving them a good amount of leeway to do their own thing.)

A rustle could be heard just above Akari, but he paid little attention to it. He figured it was just a squirrel going across the branch or something trivial and unimportant as that. Focus, Akari, he thought to himself, keep your mind to itself. Do not worry about your surroundings... you're perfectly-

Akari's thoughts were cut short when he heard a loud "CRACK! SNAP! THUD!" right behind him. Akari's eyes instantly popped open, and he fumbled a bit for his swords, still sheathed and strapped to his back, but managed to get them out. He stood up and pressed his back against the tree, and held his swords at the ready. He was shocked, and wary of what he would discover...

He didn't look at the others, as he already imagined them as having been snapped to attention by the sudden and loud noise. Akari closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then went around the tree to the other side, then stood up, pointing his swords at the fallen, but still breathing figure on the ground in front of him. "You," he said, not shouting, but still sternly, "show me your hands."

Sissmuth immediately threw his cowl over his head and slithered over to where Akari and the stranger was. "A fine place you've decided to make camp," he retorted at him. "When one was here long before us." Using his staff, he lowered Akari's weapons and advanced slowly to the figure on the ground. His tail twitched slightly, like an antennae to danger, and although he found no initial threat to fear from another anthro, it was no reason to foolishly let his guard down. He cleared his throat and leaned heavily on his staff as he spoke.

"Our humblest of apologies for disturbing your abode, good soul. Pray tell if we invade, and we'll gladly move our camp elsewhere."

It was a basic geokinetic principle to believe that the land didn't belong to anyone in particular, but to everyone in general; though most geokinetic values revolved around a central idea that the world was shared by all, it was still considered extremely rude to invade another's territory and just assume command over it, hence the snapping remark to Akari.

From somewhere inside Sissmuth's cloak, his topazes began to glow.

"Ow... ow..." she mumbled, groaning as she began rising. Anayu couldn't feel any injuries on her, luckily. Before she could get up, however, there was a timber wolf standing almost on top of her with blades aimed toward her person. Her shoulder made a few snapping sounds as she took a hold of it to ensure that it hadn't been disjointed, and she had just opened her mouth to speak when the lizard approached the wolf and shoved his weapons away.

Anayu shook her head a bit so that she could focus a bit more.

"What a fine way to greet a lady..." she grumbled after the lizard had spoken, before raising her voice enough for them to hear.
"No, no. There ain't any problem here. I was just sleeping up in the tree; maybe my choice of a branch was a bit too careless..."

She took a quick look around herself, trying to locate her staff before she glanced upward. Of course she'd dropped it in the fall and not it hung in a few small branches, supported by a thin layer of leaves.

"Uhm..." she began, but didn't continue as she rose up from the ground, brushing some dust off her fur.
"Let me just..."

Again, she didn't complete her sentence, but she began climbing up toward her staff again.

Sissmuth didn't know how, but he knew this girl was a geokinetic. And a powerful one, at that. His head lifted up at her slender figure as she climbed up the tree, unaware of how his tail had begun to twitch so. He flicked his tongue at her curiously, silently wondering what sort of abilities she had in her arsenal. The thought reflected back at him, and he was suddenly reminded of how most of his own skills were for the defensive sector of an assault. It'd be interesting to see any offensive moves the great Earth had to offer at one's disposal.

With a grunt, Sissmuth waved off a spark of envy. It was much too early to be making such inferences. For all he knew, she could just be any ordinary anthro -- just like the rest of them.

From the bowels of his cowl, Sissmuth heaved a sigh as the mysterious girl came down from her perch.

She reached the place where her staff was and stretched out toward it. Once she had grabbed it and slid down to the ground again, the first thing she checked was the large emerald imbued in its handle.
"Looks alright..." she mumbled.

Anayu cared a lot for the stone, judging by her concerned expression. It was precious to her, after all - not to mention vital for her magic. Sure, she could use some of her abilities without it, but her natural energy wasn't all that extensive - something she noticed when first charging the gemstone. It took an insane amount of time to fill it.
She looked up toward the lizard again and tilted her head ever-so slightly to the left. She couldn't quite put a finger on it, but she felt slightly odd when she looked at him.

"Uhm..." she began.
"I suppose I should introduce myself."
She looked a bit away - this was certainly an awkward meeting. At first, she'd intended to stay hidden and just observe them, but fate obviously had other plans. She opened her supply pouch and took out a flask of commercial water (probably stolen) and drank a little from it before continuing.

"I'm... well... name's Anayu." she said quickly.

Akari, after hesitating a bit before sheathing his swords after seeing that, first off, this was an anthro, and not one of the muggers ambushing them, and secondly that she was not hostile in any way. He made a small remark at Sissmuth, after he remarked about Akari's campsite choice, that they were only going to be there for six hours, anyway, and then before Akari could make an apology for brandishing his swords at the female anthro, she had already gone up the tree to retrieve what looked to be a staff that had a glint of green at the center of it, and then she descended.

At her request to introductions, he bowed his head slightly, and then began his own brief introduction, with a pang of nervousness in his voice, "Akari LaKoth. And I, uh, do apologize for brandishing my weapons; I've been on-edge lately... It's a long story, but basically, we're after some thieves who stole stuff from our town, and they're headed towards Desdon. We only want to rest here so we're not tired once we finally catch up to them."


((OOC: Let's wait for Rusty and Sirus to post, next. We haven't heard from their characters in a bit.))

(wow it's like Cyrus has been standing there drooling this whole time lol. I'll post soon. Finals and such are really consuming. Sorry guys. Either tomorrow or saturday, promise )

Tiny bump. You haven't forgotten us now, have you?

"So have we all been on edge." Rusty said coming up behind Akari. "At least you didn't have anything taken from you." A playful pat on the back and Rusty stepped pass Akari. "But even so, there's no need to spread a morbid tone."

He turned to the new face. "I'm Rusty. Nice to meet you, Anayu."

He quickly added towards Akari and Sissmuth: "We don't have a whole lot, but 'camps' is as set as it'll ever be. It was unavoidable, but we left town too fast to really bring anything."


((Short post is short. >< Graduation is now pretty much out of the way. Sirus might still be a little slow to post, though.))

(( Can't be bothered to wait longer, unfortunately. ))

Anayu nodded at Akari and Rusty respectively as they introduced each other.

"Thieves?" she then asked. "Would they be a bunch of humans, by chance?"
She turned her head toward the location of Desdon.
"I was on my way to Asper when a small group of humans passed by me. I hid in the tree, of course. They seemed to be in a rush."
She planted the bottom of her staff in the ground and for a slight moment, the gemstone flashed. Perhaps the flash wouldn't be noticed, perhaps someone would. Either way, she looked straight at Akari afterward. For a moment, she eyed him at the mercy of her subconsciousness; the wolf was elegant, tall - rather cute as well.
She shook the thought out of her head - mentally, of course - before it got any further. Her eyes rested on the scar for a second, before she turned to his eyes, and then she adressed him. All of this had happened in less than three seconds.
"They have already made their way to Desdon, out of reach. I do not think going there right away would be a good idea. I - uhm..." she said, stopping for a moment.
"If I recall correctly, there is a different way, going a little around Desdon, which will bring us nearby the police station."
Her forehead wrinkled in thought before she continued.
"Now, I have not been in Desdon for... well, years, so things may have changed. Either way, you probably ought to continue resting."
Then she turned to Rusty. "And if any of you are hungry, I have some spare food."
Anayu motioned to the bag she carried.

Akari listened intently to Anayu's explanation of what happened, and what her ideas were for getting to Desdon. If they had gotten to Desdon already, her logic was sound, since they may be expecting to be followed, or at least preparing for it. Following their direct path, therefore, might not be such a good idea. Plus, they wouldn't be hanging around the Desdon Police station, being muggers and thieves. Even if they were, they probably wouldn't think of putting up much of a fight unless they were crazy or really stupid; neither of which seemed likely, given how they've been acting.

Akari nodded his head to her. "Your advice sounds good, Anayu. If you could lead us on that path, we would greatly appreciate it. After being attacked and robbed by them, I think an element of surprise against them would be just payback," he added, with a bit of a laugh.

At her request for food, he politely refused, "I've already eaten, but I think we should save that for tomorrow, when we'll need the energy to make it to Desdon. We should, though, get to resting immediately. I'm sure we're all tired from running for all that time," Akari said to her, as he unstrapped his swords from his back and set them down next to the tree, "And again, I thank you for allowing us to spend some time here. We all appreciate it." With a courteous, slight bow, he stepped over to a side of the tree, and sat down, his back leaning against it. Thinking about it, it did seem a bit too much to put his trust in this person he had just met, but in all honesty, she had sound logic, and they didn't really have any other option at that point. For all he knew, they may be waiting for him and the group at Desdon, knowing that they were being followed. He also took some time to think about the new person they just met... just as an anthro, not as a guide or a source of information. She did seem to take a second to observe him without words... even though it was just one or two seconds, he could see it. After the fiasco with Dakota back at Hallor's Bar, he wanted to be wary with romantic interests, although he wasn't going to close himself off to them. He just wanted to be a little more careful with such an involvement.

Well, he thought, at least she's not drinking hard liquor.

Without another word, Sissmuth threw his cloak over himself and walked a little off to the side and found a nice patch of soft grass, sticking his staff down into the soft ground, he squatted down leaning his back against and wrapping his tail around the pole. Hanging his head over his chest, he closed his eyes and waited for morning.

For the hundredth time that evening, he wondered what he was doing there, with these strange people that were only getting more eccentric the closer they got to Desdon. That was another thing that bothered him. He took it that he was the oldest one in the group, so naturally, he didn't bother to say anything... but he was getting strange vibes about going to Desdon. In the light of Jollanel's presence, it didn't seem all that dangerous, but now that they were alone, the very name seemed more ominous this second time through. Normally, he'd never be able to feel through the ground do far away, but he sensed multiple seismic disruptions churning deep beneath the soil that could only be the cause of magical manipulation.

He grunted, the feeling only now sinking in about how much he hated his situation, hated these strange people he was with, and hated himself for getting himself into this position. His stomach grumbled, and he'd have knocked the wind out of anyone for a drink. Spiked cider sounded nice...

He soon fell asleep.