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Akari jumped a bit as he saw Sissmuth clobber the mare with a rock. Not only was he not at all expecting it, but also because it was a complete disregard to what Akari perceived to be honorable combat. For so many years, his father had taught him the ways of dealing with surrendered opponents, and what to do when you yourself surrendered, or at least what one was supposed to do in a one-on-one battle. This just baffled his mind. Still, knowing that Sissmuth was older, and probably more powerful than he was, he decided not to say anything, but did manage to give him an evil stare, as if to say, "That wasn't a good idea. Watch yourself, next time."

Akari walked over to the dead bandit, the one at whom he threw his knife, put his foot on his chest, and yanked it out with a soft shick. He wasted no time using his cloth to wipe the blood off, and pocketed both items shortly afterward. He turned back and jogged over to Anayu, seeing her attempt to stand but instead fall over. "Hey, hey," he said, "lemme help. You can't stand with a bullet in your shin," he explained, grabbing her arm and positioning it behind his shoulders, and his other hand around her waist, trying to help her walk, "Rgh," he grunted as he stood up; this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought, "gah, where's Rus..." he trailed off, looking straight ahead of him. There, leaning against a tree near where the thieves had sprung out, was the familiar orange-and-white figure of Rusty. "Hey, Rusty!" he called out, "over here!"

Anayu's heart skipped a few beats as Akari helped her up and supported her. She enjoyed the idea of him supporting her all the way to Desdon (him holding his hand on her waist didn't help the situation), however much the throbbing pain in her leg tried to bring her to other thoughts. She muttered a "thank you" to the wolf and took a deep breath, trying to keep her blushing in check.

She'd normally never let anyone hold her like this either; physical touch never at all appealed to her, but today was different.

Akari had begun asking about Rusty, but he interrupted himself by suddenly calling for him to get here. And somehow it made Anayu feel slightly annoyed; it ruined the moment, so to speak.
She stumbled a bit again, but this time she didn't fall over at least.

"Uhm..." she began, "I don't mean to... you know - interrupt the reunion, even though - well - we just survived attempted murder and all, but we're kinda short on time..."

Even though they were nearly killed by a group of bandits, they did have a schedule to follow and there had already been too many delays today. They'd never make it before closing time at this rate. Not to mention, they had limited supplies and she was quite certain that few favoured the idea of wandering the forest during nighttime looking for something edible as hunger tortured them.
And that energy would be better spent elsewhere, she thought.

[Little itty-bitty post. XD]

"Hummph," Sissmuth grunted, crossing his arms underneath his cloak. He watched the group and a sort of condescending attitude seemed to rise in him. Immediately, he waved it off, feeling only a little ashamed. Silently, he followed Akari and Anayu with slitted eyes, the chemistry between them seeming to permeate through the air. It was almost tantalizing, and already he could see this becoming something of a problem. While their traveling party grew, it made the otherwise timid drake somewhat uneasy -- throw in a greater chance of running into trouble, and the anxiety quickly turned to animosity.

It was alright for Akari to kill one of the bandits by knifing him through the chest, he thought bitterly. But when Sissmuth had only knocked one out with a simple technique, it suddenly made him a monster. Couldn't they see that if he hadn't knocked the mare out, it'd be likely she'd be back with reinforcements? Already, two people had been killed on their conquest... and for what? A stupid, lost gemstone. Though it was common that other people were engaging them, exactly who was the real enemy?

These thoughts, the drake pondered darkly to himself in silence.

Cyrus heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing Akari and Anayu approach through the light, dusty fog. Now that the group was together and alive, his concerns turned to the unconscious mare.

"What are we going to do about her?" He asked, directing the question more to Sissmuth than anyone else. In Cyrus's eyes, a disciplined competence seemed to constantly emanate from the warrior, and it easily won his respect. "We obviously can't just leave her here, she'll just attack us again when she regroups with who knows what other bandit friends she has. If we try to drag her to Desdon we might be able to turn her in, but it might be tough dealing with a sort of... prisoner, tailing along with us."

"I sed I'd 'andle 'er, bushy." Tob interrupted them. "She'd be causin' trubble on Waller land, we take 'er."
He made sure the knots on the ropes were tight and secure before going over the unconscious mare's body with his eyes.

Anayu shifted the weight on her healthy leg. She clearly hadn't had such an injury before; one could tell from just looking at her balancing problems now that she couldn't stand on both legs, even with Akari's help.
She grew increasingly worries, though - Sissmuth was growing to be a problem. True, she wasn't the most qualified anthro to analyze others, but it was clear that the lizard had become increasingly hostile during the day... nervous, maybe?

Admittedly, she had begun to wonder why she'd had the patience to go on with the group at this point. It was clearly going to be dangerous to tag along with them, yet something still compelled her to continue the journey.

"Let's just go? The rat said he'd handle it..." she grumbled, hearing an "Oi!" from Tob shortly after.

Cyrus cringed when he realized that the Waller had already volunteered. Jeez, pay attention you coon! he thought to himself. The battle had thrown off his normally acute social senses.

He apologized. "Oh, right. Sorry, I didn't hear you. Thanks a bunch sir!" he said to the Waller. He then turned and pretended to be examining his crystal a few steps away from the group. "Bushy, huh?" he muttered inaudibly. He scratched his head, feeling the fur. Sure I might be "bushy", but at least I can form coherent speech your bucktoothed buffoon...

Cyrus brushed the dust off his robe, looking toward Anayu. "Back to the road then."

"Besides," Akari added, trying his best to keep Anayu as much on her feet as he could, "Desdon's a city of at least one and-a-half million people. Even if she somehow could follow us, the odds of finding us among that many others are slim to none."

Akari tried to adjust his position so that Anayu could walk with his assistance, and waiting for Rusty to come help him.

He turned his head towards Anayu, "C'mon, let's see how well this'll work..." he said as he took a step forward, seeing how well Anayu was able to propel herself along with him.

((Gah, sorry for the short post.))

I updated Sissmuth's character sketch, just thought I should post it here for records. All major changes won't significantly impact the course of the story, but we may have to go back and change a few details.Character Sheet

Name: Sissmuth Lissingr
Gender/Age: Male, 21
Species: Anthro – Lacerta Agilis
Birthplace: Desert Region of Valter
Appearances: Rites of Passage, Project: Dragon Child

Physical Description: Sissmuth has a sturdy physical build; he’s well-muscled and stands roughly six feet high. His scales are a dominant color of dark green, with a tan/cream color streaking from his lower jaw down the front of his chest. A crest of frills spikes down his back that fans out and hardens, filling with blood, when Sissmuth feels agitated, angry, or threatened. Also behind him, his thick tail reaches a length of approximately five feet.

Style of Dress: Sissmuth wears leggings that are tattered at the knees, with a hole ripped out in the back to accommodate his tail. On each arm is a wristband, and he also wears a long and dark cloak that is slightly tattered as well. His brooch encompasses a small topaz connects to a cowl Sissmuth occasionally pulls over his head.

Personality: Sissmuth likes to believe he’s the one in control and that he has everything sorted out and planned when he often doesn’t. His lack of direction was most unsettling, and his unrest was what ultimately led him to leave his homeland. As most lizards are, Sissmuth is very timid in crowds. He often acts in the moment, making quick but spurred decisions that sometimes backfires in the future. Although he prefers the company of smaller groups, a philosophical and sincere approach is usually the best way to get through his quiet and tempered character. He is a very skilled fighter, but does what he can to not attract attention to himself. In traveling parties, he stays in back and is quite watchful, usually allowing things to go their own way until he feels the need to intervene. When angered, however, he has some difficulty discerning friend from foe and often acts with more force than is necessary. He is stern and sometimes appears to have his own hidden agenda, but upon familiarizing himself with a group, he will slowly open up and adjust himself for their better judgment.

Background: After proving his skills to his Elders, they were so impressed by his fighting talent that they appointed him Guardian of the village. As time wore on, however, Sissmuth began to grow bored, but was bound by duty to his post, and so thus stayed in Valter for a large part of his life [roughly until he was 20]. There to keep him company was his younger brother, Ssarguth, whom he looked after with a fierce sort of compassion; his relationship with him may be described to some degree as incestual. When Ssarguth approached him one day with plans to leave Valter, Sissmuth spited his decision with great detestation. Even so, Ssarguth was determined to make a life for himself, and so left his homeland and brother scowling after him. Feelings of unrest continued to plague Sissmuth as he realized he was envious of his younger brother’s ambitions and determination. When his village didn’t allow him to leave, Sissmuth later made the decision to abandon his post and flee Valter in search of making a new aim, not knowing just how unprepared for the real world he really was. For a while, he lived from day to day, living parts of a broken and failed dream, and later finds it in himself to alter his quest to go in search for his lost brother. On the way, he meets up with a group of traveling anthros and decides to take on their quest as well.
In time, however, Sissmuth discovers that Ssarguth had been killed by a group of humans. This causes Sissmuth to go on a rampage, nearly loosing himself in a character bent on nothing but bloodthirsty revenge, before he is consoled by his traveling party and then finds his purpose in avenging his brother’s death… eventually, he does.
After, however, emptiness and distraught one again began to haunt Sissmuth until he finally cracks. Retreating back in solitude, he walked a great distance away from all those he comes to know until he reaches the desolate tract of Ghraeh Barrens. There, Sissmuth joins a party of magic-wielding Dracos in their underground lair; a spiteful race bent on the destruction of dragons and humans to make way for their ascend to dominate the surface. In this new life, Sissmuth worked under the influence of his controller, the mysterious Empress, as a messenger and – when called for – assassin. He easily gains recognition in his skills and is later ordered to eliminate what was known as a Sacred; a person who serves as peacekeeper between dragons and humans. During his assignment, he captures a dragon who’d befriended the Sacred, but is later captured in turn by the Sacred himself, who proves to be nothing more than a 17-year old boy, and his girl. Sissmuth is then forced to lead them back to the dragon he’d captured, and grudgingly, he does. On the way, Sissmuth once again finds himself opening up to his traveling party, though weary to keep a careful outlook on things.
Through his new party, Sissmuth is able to break the Empress’ bond over him, but may still remain unloyal to a side. Before long, Sissmuth decides that he can remain passive no more, and later realizes that the decision he makes as to whose forces to join will ultimately define him and his destiny.

Weapon of Choice: Before coming to Grhaeh Barrens, Sissmuth is usually equipped with a Bo staff, which he is able to wield with lengthy precision. He is capable of impressive geokinetic techniques that he utilizes mainly for defense and disabling foes enough for him to get a close-combat advantage. He also utilizes every part of his body as a potential weapon and is an expert at improvising. In Grhaeh Barrens, Sissmuth receives a different arsenal; his geokinetic powers have somehow faded, though he has still retained some of his magic capability, but in their stead came a multitude of equally deadly assassin’s weapons, including hidden short swords and throwing knives.

Method of Attack: If he can help it, Sissmuth may try to sneak up on a target and engage on them with as little noise, trouble, and mess, as he can. If he fails at that, or the option is unavailable, he will try to maintain a close distance to his target as possible, starting off his attack pattern with disarming, disabling, and immobilization techniques before moving on to offense. He is quick and powerful, but can only continue his onslaught for as long as his earthen defenses can hold. Distance and range techniques are his weakpoints, also taking into mind that if all other methods are unsuccessful, he will berserk a target until one of them is defeated.

Gemstone(s): 1 topaz on wristband on each of the two wristbands on his arms (2 total); he later looses a topaz, and the remaining one is attached to the brooch of his cloak

Genotype: mEARTH mEARTH


Abilities (Low Level):
• Earth Feel – Sissmuth can pick up vibrations traveling across the ground and interpret them to detect the far-off movements of distant objects or people.
• Stalagmite – Sharpened pillars of rock needle up from the ground, potentially impaling foes or trapping them.
• Rock Wall – A wall of solid stone juts up in front of Sissmuth and moves forward with him to allow him a safe approach to an enemy.
Abilities (Medium Level):
• Geokinesis – Sissmuth can manipulate small chunks of earth to his will
• Magnetize – Utilizing the earth’s electromagnetic field, Sissmuth can polarize himself and stones will immediately begin latching onto his body, creating a kind of rock armor. As more focus is put into this ability, the electromagnetic shield manifested around Sissmuth’s body can distort and block radio waves [employed by humans in precision/communication devices] and alpha/beta waves [employed by anthros to discharge magic; as long as Sissmuth can hold up the shield, he is invulnerable to most kinds of magical attacks].
• Rock Wrecker – Enhances physical attacks with earth-based energy, dramatically increasing damage, but can sometimes slow down the user
• Stand Your Ground – Sissmuth draws power from the earth to maximize friction between him and the ground, dramatically increasing his defense and helps to keep his feet planted. Speed-based moves are nearly impossible with this ability activated.
Abilities (High Level):
• Bury Alive – As opposed to an ability, this technique is more of a Draconic spell, which requires the use of focus and recital of ancient Dragonese words; the particles beneath a target break into fine dust and hover to dramatically increase fluidity, creating a kind of quicksand; the particles then reconnect to effectively immobilize the target by solidifying them into the ground or completely burying them.

Rusty felt like he had shaken off the sudden sickness that came over him as he straighten up and away from the tree. "What happened, happened. I'm still alive; perfectly healthy. That's all that matters, right?" he kept saying to himself. He encroached upon the rest of the group abnormally slow. The closer he got, the more he could convince himself that we was fine physically and mentally.

The last thing he recalled be said to him was Akari directing him to help him with Anayu, so he made his way to where Akari was, silently and almost without acknowledgment to Akari. Or anyone else for that matter. It was still apparent that a part of Rusty's mind was still lingering on the recent past.

So finally the group seems to be on their way through the last leg on the path to Desdon. The events so far leave evidence that the quest is not as simple as it sounds. Not even close. The city of Desdon is a giant stepping stone and leap closer to Rusty's success. A good place to rest and hopefully put stray thoughts into check. From there they would move on to the next stepping stone and even another step closer to the finale of this unforeseen nightmare.

First, let's hope Desdon still stands to provide that sought after stone.

Anayu, supported by Akari managed to take a few steps forward although it was a bit unsteady. She stumbled a bit again and grabbed the wolf tightly to maintain balance, but as she realized this her ears went backward in a shy manner and she quickly let go of him.

"S-Sorry..." she mumbled.
She tried to concentrate on the journey ahead; Desdon was still some hours away and the group was barely moving. She tried taking a few more steps, more confident in her movements now - and at least she wasn't stumbling as much now.

Meanwhile, Tob had called on two friends who were now in the process of dragging the unconscious mare away. The Waller saluted them as they began making their way into the forest.


(( Short-post is inexcusably short, sorry >: ))

(( Bump. Don't forget about us D: ))

((I'll try to put something in... it's not gonna be long, but it'll do something))

Akari bit his lip as she stumbled and grabbed him for support, then immediately shyed away, apologizing. He snapped back to the present when he felt the interior of his lip started to bleed, he had bitten it so hard. "Madrei..." he swore under his breath, feeling the blood with his tongue, then looked to see the rest of the group had started to continue along their way. He shook his head briskly and moved along, walking alongside Rusty as the group made their way towards Desdon.

(my brother will post within the next 3 days or we're booting him, I promise. Sorry for the bump XD)

Ever since his little show of emotion to their assailant some hours ago, [or days, I lost the timeline] Sissmuth had kept quietly to himself, staying a safe distance behind the others, though... for whose safety exactly, was anyone's guess. Even Sirus seemed to be weary of him, which made the reptile feel only slightly more forsaken. His tail hung limply behind him and was starting to accumulate a couple bruises from being dragged across the rough terrain so much. A part of him wanted to recant what he did, though he knew that if nothing had been done, they'd be hours more behind schedule. And Sissmuth had no intention of sticking to this group forever. The consent of the group was another matter that plagued him; though he didn't want to care what any of them thought, at least for the time being, they were in this quest together and he'd have appreciated not being such a poltergeist to everyone -- only really being noticed when he supposedly stepped across the line.

They're kids, he thought with a grunt and a slight erection of his frills. Just kids. He felt that he was wasting his time, but was bound to his word to Jollanel.

A rumble rippled out from beneath his feet. These tremors were a bother to him, and as much as he tried to block them out, he knew something was happening for these quakes to be happening to irregularly. Though he still didn't know what to make of them...

...until he felt the big one.

The quiet lizard was all but unprepared for what came. A massive ripple in the earth's surface radiated out, and as it rumbled underneath Sissmuth's feet, he nearly fell over. Like he had been punched mentally, he suddenly cried out a high-pitched shriek as he stumbled a few steps back and held a hand to the side of his head. His staff dropped to the floor with a dull clatter as he struggled to clear his vision and regain his balance. And then, as soon as it had come, the ripple passed and was reduced to mere tremors again. Like the earth's very core was a growling stomach. Hungry and awake, he could feel massive vibrations echoing out ahead of them. The seismic activity Sissmuth felt was of a magnitude unlike anything he'd ever felt before.

He looked up to see the rest of the group had stopped and was staring blankly at him.

(I'll bump this to the front so nobody forgets about it! ^^)