(Post co-written by Conumbra, Zephyr, Script, Tiko, Imehal, Arrow, and Moonscar)
Marxan finally let go, and allowed the exhaustion he had been feeling to wash over him. He bent down to his knees amidst the voidling corpses, his armour crumbling and falling back to he earth from whence it came. Once he rested for a few moments, he managed to compose herself, and stood tall to look upon the new group that had arrived. He regarded them with mild suspicion. They had arrived, bringing with them a voidling horde. Some part of him wanted to blame them for the attack, but the logical part of his mind took over. If they had truly intended to do him and his allies harm they would have done so already while the Patronus were weary from the assault. He gave a faint smile, and drunk in the relief. Maybe with this group's help they stood a chance against the Orsa.
"Ahh, a battle well fought, friends." A smooth voice said from seemingly nowhere. "Though you could all stand to work on your form and efficiency and whatnot; it
was a bit on the timely side." As the sentence drew onward, its source slowly faded in to view. The half-elf smirked and strolled casually over to Ruan. "Well, except you of course." Niv could practically hear the Scout Party's collective disdain for his reappearance, which only entertained him further.
Whilst the other two continued on their path towards the city, Emma turned from Sylvire and Ciela to give Niv a withering glare. "And as if on cue, our party's performing monkey returns from his not-so-inconspicuous absence." she said, rolling her eyes, "Stop flirting and try not to alienate too many of our new friends - avoid speaking to them if you can help it, that should make the job easier."
Niv snickered at the girl's comment. "Flirt? Me? Oh, surely you jest~" He eyed her coyly, a smirk spreading across his pretty face. "Well then, I'll be sure to speak with as many of them as I can. I'm sure they'll love me. After all; what's not to love? Right Ruan, dear?" The elf lifted a slender finger and made a motion to brush it against Ruan's cheek. He was intent on getting a reaction out of the man today, as he was every other day.
Ruan's hand came up to catch Niv by the wrist. “We have been over this, I'm spoken for. And frankly, I'm surprised you could see what I was doing, between your running and hiding,” he stated coldly. Ruan's words weren't hostile per se, but they certainly held a scathing note none the less. However, if Niv expected more of a rise out of him than cold practicality, he would be disappointed.
"Oh, come now. You think I'd leave you all hanging?" Niv said, snickering. Though it wasn't quite the reaction he'd been hoping for, it was still something. "I may have been out of sight, but I was still here making sure you all stayed safe. Not that
you'd need
my help in battle..."
Meanwhile, Rynhart padded his way back over to the group with Parlina still sitting astride his back. Panting profusely the shapeshifter gave a vigorous shake to slide Parlina off him before the pair became engulfed in a thick purple cloud. As the miasma dissipated into the air, the canine beast had been replaced with an elven man resting a supportive hand upon Parlina's shoulder.
Despite her weariness and Rynhart's brush-off, the young druid smiled at the newcomers just as warmly as she did her established allies, placing one of her own hands atop the elf's on her shoulder, pleased with how things had gone. Some looked a little worse for wear at the front – Narruk and Marxan most notably, for they had taken the front line – but everyone looked well. It was enough to make her concerns about leading once more wane a little, though there was a little frown on her lips regardless, and a muttering of words beneath her breath before she curtsied briskly.
“Greetings!” Parlina chirped, setting her footsteps after the two leader-figures, eyeing up the new arrival before turning her attention back to the new group as a collective. So many questions hung at the edge of her tongue, but she held them back, waiting for a more opportune moment - that is, away from the corpses of the creatures.
Emma glowered at Niv, dismissing the elf with a disgusted sigh, before turning to face Rynhart and Parlina as they arrived. "And greetings to you too." she replied, cocking a brow at Parlina's enthusiasm. "What am I, famous? Strangers aren't normally this pleased to meet an unknown blood mage, for fear that I might take over their minds and eat their children."
The mage paused to glance at Rynhart, leaning back on one foot and surveying him. "So are you a dog that turns into an elf, or an elf that turns into a dog?"
The unexpected tirade about attitudes towards blood mages brought Parlina to a temporary stand-still, blinking only once before Emma's comment about Rynhart's transformation brought a smile to her lips, breaking the reverie. “Nope, not famous – I was just saying hello!”
The concept of blood magic was one that Parlina had no understanding of, and so there was no disgust or hatred in her voice as she said with a little smile, “you don't seem like you'd eat children.” She had already decided to let Rynhart explain his transformation. After all, it was his question, not hers, to answer.
Rynhart gave Emma a hard look before he finally replied. It would seem that the normally passive and tolerant shapeshifter was perturbed by Emma's presence, but even amongst his people, blood magic was a taboo not easily overlooked. “That is not a question for today,” he said simply before sparing Parlina a parting warning. “Be careful of her,” he stated openly to the young druid before departing with little explanation.
Emma shrugged, smirking at Rynhart. "Don't be such a spoilsport." she joked, "But seriously, he isn't lying. I'm a dangerous, foolish individual, but thankfully I'm not an idiot, so we're okay!"
The mage winked, "But then, that's what they all say, right? And then BAM, suddenly I'm turned into a demonic abomination that goes on a psychotic rampage and eats babies. Trust me, I've seen it happen. I make it my job to prevent the latter two parts if some twit pokes themself with a needle and causes the first."
Glancing away from Parlina and over towards the retreating Ciela and Sylvire, Emma rolled her shoulders, "So do you guys have a kitchen? Because I'd kill for some decent food right now. Not literally, you know. Still sane, and all."
Marxan overheard Emma mention she was a blood mage, which pricked his attention. He hadn't met many blood mages; most he knew were reclusive and usually didn't like to be around strangers let alone work in groups. A curious individual that. Perhaps he should speak to her later, concerning her unique brand of magic.
At the end of the battle, Kirae had wandered forwards to where the front crop of voidlings had fallen, and started poking around at their corpses. Being a necromancer, she was curious as to the nature of the fallen creatures. When her magic had interacted with them, they had seemed alien - they reminded her of the corpses of demons, in the limited capacity in which they existed without vanishing back to whatever plane they were from.
At the sparking of conversation and argument, however, she had risen from her studies and walked over to the group. "Hello!" she exclaimed cheerfully at Emma, Ruan and Niv, "My name is Kirae, it is a pleasure to meet you! I was most impressed watching you all battle. You are all very skilled."
The small girl paused, frowning at Niv, "I didn't see you, though - were you perhaps further forwards, helping Sir Arrow and Sylvire? Or do you employ stealth magic in your fighting, like Aliana?" Kirae's curiosity was genuine - there wasn't an inkling of suspicion in the Sylvari that Niv had in fact been hiding like a coward.
"Foolish girl, have you no perception?" Niv cocked an eyebrow at the miniscule individual, craning his neck back in amusement. Oh, she could prove to be fun. "I was merely a hop, skip, and a jump away, up in that tree." He paused for a moment, her cheery expression unchanging. "Ugh... To answer your question; yes, I was cloaked. My word, I was under the impression that this was a group of elites." The half-elf sighed and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head slightly. He hadn't even used a very powerful charm to conceal himself; just something to keep him out of sight. How had the girl not been able to sense him...?
Kirae frowned momentarily, before shrugging her shoulders. "I am far from an elite, sir, I am afraid! I am not yet able to focus my attention both on a horde of demons and individuals in nearby trees at the same time." The Sylvari girl seemed displeased with this, far from indignant, but after a few moments her cheerful smile returned. "I did not mean to offend you! It is an honour to meet you, sir, and I will endeavour to maintain my awareness of other life-forms in combat! It is certainly sound advice." The necromancer tilted her head, focusing on the life-force of those around her and starting to work on separating each individual off from the next. As she did so, she glanced at the retreating form of Sylvire and looked back to Niv, "You should accompany us into the city! We have one of the buildings at a habitable level of repair, if you require rest!"
"Eh..." Niv's eyes widened in curiosity. How was this girl so... happy? "I must say, you are the most atypical Necromancers I have ever had the displeasure of meeting. But I will accompany you on principle..." He had the feeling that she wasn't going to be leaving him alone any time soon, and grunted at this realization. Begrudgingly, he began his trek in the direction she had stated. He suspected that he might have found someone even more annoying than himself...
Beaming, Kirae nodded her head, "I do often hear that I am not what people expect of a necromancer! The connection to death apparently implies that one is grim and stalks around with a hunch, but I assert that it is not so!" The girl started after him, continuing to babble cheerfully, with no idea that she was annoying the half-elf with her endless positivity.
Narruk rose from the ocean of corpses around him, like a monster born from death, straightening his back as he swiveled his head from side to side, making sure every last voidling had been rightfully dispatched. He had taken no notice of Emma as she spoke. How could he, after all, when he had been occupied with rending an enemy into two pieces? The only other person he had been aware of at the time was Marxan.
Now sure that no more voidlings were coming, and that there were none left alive to harm the group, Narruk flicked the head of his staff, extingushing the magic within the spider web. He then looked toward the small group of midgets who had come. Before that, however, his attention was stolen by Kirae, who walked among the corpses in fascination. He was not surprised. It would be a rare event in which she did not take the chance to study a dead body.
Now, the Oasis warrior looked back up to the group, and Kirae had gone to them, as well. Though the behemoth looked unharmed, even completely unaffected by both fights he had partaken in, his stoic exterior said nothing for his exhaustion. He made his way, as peppily as ever, to the group, greeting them politely.
Whilst the others had been speaking, the rest of the new arrivals had been drifting after Ciela and Sylvire. Most of them seemed far more suspicious of the Patronus than many of the Terrans were of them, and low murmurs were exchanged as they walked in clusters. Those Patronus who had not chosen to speak with the two more interactive newcomers had also made their way in the same direction.
