Ace Tyrant

A young Neco with the fairest of golden honey hair hung beside a lake where the current ran so slow that it was almost still. He sat there in the undergrowth, crouched on his tip toes whilst stirring the water before him with the tip of a silver arrow for something that resembled amusement. It caused the surface to spread out in ripples and pushed along deserted dead leaves that had fallen from the remaining disfigured trees. This forest was familiar and special to Ace. In the past he had spent weeks training and resting in the woodland with Jennifer, memories that he was trying his best to hold onto. They were what gave him hope and the will to survive, she might even return here one day unless she was...

No. Ace did not want to think of it. There was no way that viper of a woman was dead.

For a good minute or two the blonde youth said nothing, his expression totally empty and deserted. He then stated in a gentle wispy and silk like voice. "I don't care. You were kind and merciful..." Then he fell back into cold quiet, thought swarming around his mind about this extraordinary woman that he had now allowed himself to admit that he loved her with every last drop of his soul. Even though it felt like she disliked him greatly. Ace labelled himself a fool.

"Why don't you let people in...What’s the worst that could happen? Getting distracted from finding this girl? I really promise I won't let that happen. If the only thing that will make you happy is having her back beside you then I will try my very best that is the case..."

Someone as stubborn and ruthless as her just could not die, it did not seem possible in his simplistic and child-like mind. However, he more than anyone knew she had a rather broken and fragile heart, he also had a feeling that maybe he had began to help her, maybe he kept her going. Despite her thick and almost unbreakable false shell, Ace knew that deep down she held some compassion for the runt. Maybe without him and his ability to keep his promise, she would give up fighting.

The youth sighed lightly. Pulling his hair from his large orb like baby blue eyes and placing his arrow back into his leather quiver, Ace stood up and began making his way back to his so called "home".

Desolate, forsaken, alone.

Aleph Banton

You know, he hadn't thought on the subject much; why of all buildings, did the bars remain mostly unscathed in these wastelands? It was possibly because when his species got drunk, they had much more potential to destroy than a simple homosapien, and thusly a bar was needed to be reinforced. While the paint on the outside of the bar was charred to shit, the inside of the building was almost perfect, aside from the aforementioned charring also being on the walls right next to any window.

Yes, the bars were still there. For him, that was perfect.

Aleph was sitting on a stool in the middle of a deserted bar. Sure, the booze was a bit old, but it still worked. It still helped him get drunk, intoxicated. Currently, he was still able to stand and talk, but at his rate, this wouldn't be for long. He had only started ten minutes ago, but two bottles were downed and there was more lined up for him to take, drink and move on as quickly as he wished. Nobody was going to cut him off, nobody could ask him to pay. It was free pain-nullification. Unfortunately all it did was null the pain...

It didn't make it go away.

Whether he realized this or not didn't matter, for he did this anyways, without much of a second thought. He wore a grizzled, dark, lonely face that was only filled with down emotions and what used to be a five o'clock shadow, now transformed into a beard, sorta. His eyes were, for the most part, cast down towards the wooden bar that stood before him with dust covering the surface of it, as well as his beers. On occasion, he'd give a small sigh before taking another drink. Truly, he was a sad sight. He even looked just like any person back before all this happened, with all his clothing on him at the moment being the ripped, dirty tunic and unwashed clothe-pants. He had also gotten a pair of old shoes to replace his boots, since he didn't ever really wear his armor. He was never sober enough to maneuver in it, so it was only useful to bring back other depressing thoughts that hadn't even sent him into this depression.

They say that if you have a bad pain in one part of your body, to hurt yourself somewhere else so you don't pay attention to that. It would have seemed that he tried to do that with his emotions, but it backfired horribly, sending him into a worse state. Not only did he lose his purpose, but he was constantly reminded that he was down a family due to his own foolishness and selfishness. What a poor man he was, wasn't he?

He took the final swig of his beer, finishing it off and held the bottle in his hand.

It's his fault that his life is like this, right? Not only uselessly living in this shithole of a world, but personally making it worse for himself and costing others their life? Is that what he did?

"No!" he yelled at himself, angrily, weakly. "I...! FUCK!" he tossed the empty bottle as hard as he could at the old wall of the bar, causing it to shatter into a million pieces, falling to the dirty ground below. He wouldn't have to clean it up. His hands moved to his head, his elbows resting on the bar and holding his noggin up from falling to the desk, like he so wanted it to do. "I...." he attempted to speak to himself, but failed to mutter more than that one word. Defeated by himself, he grabbed another beer and opened it.

Because now, that is all he can do

Gabriel watched his quarry stalk through the long grass. Her brown sun-streaked mane blending in with autumn theme. Her motions, graceful yet stiff with a dullness that suggested Death. The black armor hugging her feminine features. The woman below was as graceful and dangerous as a tiger.... or a panther, he thought. Somehow, that comparison made the connection. He made no noise as he effortlessly dropped from the boughs of an oak tree, tackling the lady to the ground. He felt a fist dig itself into his stomach and the air whooshed out of his lungs. He coughed and blinked open his albino red eyes, to see her green ones staring into his. "Have you decided to turn on me?" The voice, offered no sympathy, humor or even an accent. Just dead words. "Geez Ember, don't you understand the words Mock fighting, or even Play fighting?" He spoke each words slowly and with obvious hidden meaning.

Ember replied with a shake of her head.

Gabriel grunted, he had expected the answer, but he just hadn't believed that anyone could not ever fight without the intent to kill. He got to his feet, muttering about his female companion and cursing, remembering the other times he's tried to have an actual friendly conversation with Ember. The last so-called conversation had actually been filled with exactly four words. Something about how he thought the tea was delicious when it had been bland and her reply was just silence and stillness. Until he "accidentally" spilled his cup of tea and she had once again... done nothing. The girl was practically a moving corpse.

Back to the point, Gabriel thought to himself, trying to get his mind back on course. They needed food for tonight's talk-less dinner. "We ran out of army rations last night, and I think we should split up. I know I'll bring back a big buck or something, but I don't know about you..." He felt confidant he could hunt deer, when really he didn't know a thing about hunting. All his life, he's just eaten army rations or Bushman's Rice. Which was actually larvae of a bug's name he's forgotten about. He then pulled his staff from the area it was hidden in, and spoke some words to it. It suddenly made a whistling noise and it was suddenly a two sided spear. Gabriel looked Ember over and motioned to her bow. "Maybe you could get a doe, or a rabbit, but anything edible should do." He watched Ember and shrugged his shoulder when he got no reply spoke to himself, "And the game begins." He turned and began walking off.



Ember watched Gabriel walk away, his white hair a stark contrast to the dead forest. She held up her black bow and strung an arrow before walking off in the opposite direction. Her mind set on the deer tracks she found earlier that morning... And the tracks had been fresh then, so that same herd should be around.

Several minutes later, she was able to find the same trail, but with a new edition. There were human tracks following them. From the size and imprint, it weighed less than Ember did, and it was probably female. She followed both trails to a small lake. She ignored the beautiful scenery before her, and focused only on her targets. Both tracks led to the water, and both were in sight. The deer were actually white tails, a rarity nowadays, and the tracks were a young female Neko. Somehow, both were able to stay in the same place without disturbing one another. Odd. Ember got into position, aiming for a buck that would best be called a six pointer, currently taking in some much needed water. She held the pose for a few seconds, and then let the arrow fly, hearing a startled yelp and a struggle.

Ember watched the blonde haired girl shriek while staring at the buck get to it's feet and stagger toward the forest, blood seeping down its side. The buck only made it to the tree line. Ember stood and stalked into view with her bow drawn, aiming for the girl's chest. The girl took one look at Ember before being naive and bolting for the forest. Ember had to admit the girl was fast, but not as fast as an arrow, or a bullet. She licked her lips before letting the arrow loose and watching it go through some of the girl's clothing and holding her to the tree.



Marishka shrieked profanity at the strange lady, and tried to yank from her sudden acre. Too bad her jacket was leather. And she wasn't strong enough to rip the arrow out from the trunk of the tree or even tear away. When the lady came within talking distance, she stopped and spoke. "State your name." The voice was dead, and the fact that it sounded so scared Marishka. She didn't want to be taken into a military system to become someone like this woman, dead and dull. She didn't want to go home either. "It's Marishka and please don't hurt me." She was afraid, and if the lady didn't have the bow, Marishka would have been cursing/mocking her and not complying with her orders. The lady's face didn't change, nor did it express anything. It was just a cold mask.

Marishka tried another one last attempt at ripping free, but of course, got no where. "Ya know, you're a great shooter, I'm lucky you weren't one. I might have been skewered with this arrow." She began towing with its feathers and trying not to meet the lady's dead features. "Don't you think it was a little overkill? Killing the buck and then almost killing a girl. Maybe its not to you, but it is to me, and wouldn't it be mighty if you suddenly decided I wasn't an enemy?" Marishka began to ramble, and the lady noticed by stating the obvious. "You're babbling."

Suddenly Marishka's rebelliousness shot up, "Yeah something that happens when people are nervous? Don't you ramble when you get nervous or when someone almost killed you?!" She looked up to glare at the lady and was shocked to see some brown eyes looking at her differently. Like they were confused. "I don't know. I've always killed my enemy before they could almost kill me." Marishka stared and began opening her mouth and closing it like a fish, numerous times before shutting it and looking away. Waiting for the lady to release her or kill her.

The Reprobate

Tears mingled with the blood on her cheeks as the Sapien cried out with pure pain. Fists, metal and hard boots crashed mercilessly against her body, snapping fingers and leaving ungodly blue and purple bruised along fair skin that once used to be beautiful. HER NAME WAS NOT ON THE LIST. She could see them through the ajar door now, blinding light peering in through the crack. Necos clustered together on tables, healing, gambling, training and watching.

Their pupils glared in at the entertainment beyond the door, some cheering with strong grins, some just watched with dull stony faces. She had been found after the bombing by a nameless organisation and pulled out of the debris, promised safety and a nice place to live. At first Faith refused, screaming in their faces something about needing to find a armored brunette, but they took away the wounded blonde, ignoring her pleads. HER NAME WAS NOT ON THE LIST. They had discovered she was not a Neco, and therefore not worthy of their care...or life.

"Fuck her!" One man cried out, before several quickly rejected the idea, they would not touch such scum. What felt like years later they began hitting her temple, causing her vision to swing in and out of focus and a warm trickle of crimson flow into her blonde hair. They were going to kill her, after so much kindness she was shown by the other Necos, these were going to murder her. Faith began to wonder if her past acquaintances knew the truth, would they attempt to dispose of her the same? She wanted to push away the thought but looking up into the cold eyes of these inhumanely creatures beating her, she had to believe it. Sapiens and Necos were not ever to be anything more than enemies.

With a sudden burst of furious rage and feeling of betrayal, she grabbed one of metal rods and began to hit her attackers aimlessly, the world still a horrid blur. Faith Alexis then ran. Faith Alexis was no more.

The Reprobate replayed the bloody memory in her mind as she crept forwards along a treetop branch, before gracefully and silently leaping onto another with her spear raised above her shoulder with strong and scarred arms. She had a reason for her murders, she needed to help her species, she needed to rid the world of its scum. Below her were two Necos, identifiable by their size and the resources they carried on them. She narrowed her eyes before swinging her spear forwards and sending it swiftly flying through the air and deep into one of the men's spines.

Her lips curled upwards as it hit.

The wastes were always a place that death and decay often happened. The decayed remains of what was once a city was no different to one preditor of a Neco. Encased in metal armor like he had been for years and coated in fresh blood. The war engraved the notion of death into his mind. The saying, kill or be killed was true for his kind. Something that he had done for years.

However, even a preditor needed a break from it all. Even if it was a place where in his mind was full of those who...for lack of better wording...idiots.

The metal clad male pushed the door aside as he walked on all fours. Sleek design of is armor only allowing him to walk this way, and many taking notice of this. Most were what he had heard before, either murrmurs of his suit, the sound of chairs screeching as they moved out of his way.

He sat up to the bar with ease, crouching on the bar stool as his helm opened slightly like a clamshell only to show his mouth and the glasgow scar that accompanied it. "Two shots, jegar if you have it." He said with a slight edge to it, as if he had just gotten out of a fight at some point.

A low growl rummbled from him as he tapped his claws on the bar, gnashing his jagged teeth together as he waited on a nervous barkeep.

Kaijay Wrife

Rousing himself, Kaijay's body seemed to creak as he moved, muscles shifting under skin, akin to the groaning of floorboard chafing against one another. Kaijay stretched, extending his arms outward, the tension gathered at his core. All his stiff joints came loose at a single expelled huff of his breath, outreached arms once again returning to rest at his sides. He came to pass his tongue over his lips, salvia glossing over the ridges in the skin.

He could feel his hunger returning. An empty stomach was like a virus, the infection circulates throughout you, eating away at you, making your body frail as you're striped of fats, then muscle, and when you're all gobbled up by the the empty stomach, you die. None of this did Kaijay feel fretful about, but his body sniveled in pleas of a growling stomach and Kaijay merely adhered to his body.
Kaijay moved like fluid, even a figure of more agile than he contrasted to his accustomed movement through the throngs of nature. Plodded with leaves, his steps were equally soft to a trickle of water.

Before even catching vision of anything, Kaijay felt uncomfortable, the kind of anxiousness when the bloodlust of your predator is upwind, but he did not feel alerted to a distinct presence. Someone must have been through this area, not just a single person but a few. It wasn’t uncommon for a solitary person to wander the shouldering outskirts of the forest, but a group passing through embroidery green was new. Kaijay crouched down, the long grass greeted his arrival, the rubbery tips brushing his skin, leaving a in their wake a trail of ticklish sensations.

Kaijay kept motionless for a brief interval, senses temporarily amplified by concentration. "Phantom ears perking", he detected a soft vibration of sound, a powerful force, from a distance away. Fear apprised him of the potential threat, but another concept so predominate in humans was curiosity, and Kaijay's intrest was fanned. He took a few lengthy stalks forward, after all, Kaijay did what he felt, not what he thought. His curiosity would simply be quenched as he watched the two Necos that had been slinking through the forest. He did not know what they were doing nor why there were here, but those were things Kaijay never bothered to question.

Ace Tyrant

Ace had repaired a old log cabin that had been deserted a long while a go deeper into the forest. The blonde took a steady walk back, humming quietly to himself in a pleasant silky voice. This of course might not have been the cleverest of things to do since there was supposedly, both Sapiens and Necos everywhere, looking for someone to slaughter. Ace had clumsy and not very efficient survival instincts, but his hearing was like that of the gods.

Snap.

As the blonde youth processed the sound he fell into the undergrowth and out of sight, pupils glaring out of the gaps between the leaves. He found the owner of the footsteps to be of a young man a similar age to his own, not that much of a distance away from him now. His hair was icy and was clearly rather heavily armed with a matching somewhat authoritative feel to him, though apparently alone. This panicked Ace slightly and so he reached into his quiver for his arrows and readied Sophia, his fingertips white with holding her string so tightly. Jennifer had taught him so much and maybe now he would have to put into practice, his heart pounded heavily in his chest and uncomfortable breaths passed his lips.

Remaining hidden, Ace forced his tone into something a little more dangerous than his usual weak soft-boy speech. "Friend or foe? Or are you one of those who kill those who are not their species? If that's the case, you are a foe..." It was blunt, unnerving, but clearly a false and put on front. Closing one eye, he lined up the silver arrows top to fly straight into the strangers temple if he was to release Sophia...he prayed he did not need to do so.

Ace was too lonely to kill.

"Friend or foe? Or are you one of those who kill those who are not their species? If that's the case, you are a foe..." Gabriel turned, and cocked his head, a quizzical expression glued to his face. The man before him had a boyish and almost innocent look to him, but the bow in his hands contradicted that image. He was obviously a Neko, but Gabriel was a hybrid and had always looked more like a Neko. What was this stranger talking about? Gabriel didn't understand the boys question but answered the stranger. "I guess you woodland people lack manners." He snorted before tightening his grip on his spear feeling the end points disappear. It was just a staff again. "I am neither, as I do not know who you are, Blondie, and so I will not harm you either way." He grinned, knowing Ember might be back any moment, and of course he wouldn't kill this stranger. Ember would.

The idea of Ember returning made him take his time. Gabriel backed away and leaned on a tree, his suddenly pink eyes staring right back at Ace. Watching the stranger's every move, his gaze becoming predatory, the Neko in him responding to Ace's pounding heartbeat.

The Reprobate

With a short cry, the Neco's life leaving body stumbled to the ground in a bloody heap, spear still plunged deep into his back. His acquaintance let out a roar of anger, sinking to his knees along side his dying companion and displaying grief and sorrow that The Reprobate told herself was not real emotion, for Necos could not feel such things. Faith grinned manically, eyes bright and just a little more than blood thirsty. The second male then mourned for a short while, before he began aimlessly glaring at his surroundings searching for his friends cowardly anonymous killer with a gun clasped tightly in his fist.

"Up here sunshine," She stated in a rather normal calm and angelic voice, her body swung across the branch lazily...maybe even a little provocative. His pupils locked securely that of the lioness woman in the tree tops and he seemed to have just frozen on the spot, but quickly he corrected her thoughts by his raising his weapon and firing, though his anger controlled his aim and so the lead missed by miles. Still for some reason the woman still fell elegantly from the branch as though it had hit, resembling a bird that had just been shot out of its comfort in the sky.

The Reprobate landed belly down into a pile of leaves, sending the red flakes soaring into the air, almost appearing to be summer butterflies. "And you Sapiens wonder why we started a war..." He hissed as her approached her supposed lifeless corpse, lips pressed into a thin and unforgiving line.

Once Faith sensed his close presence, she reached up and grasped his collar with her right hand and twisted with a surprising amount of strength that a Sapien like her must have trained years for, flipping the Neco underneath her. She snarled furiously at his comment. "We know exactly why you did! You began the war because you are selfish, power hungry, inhuman bast-"

The Reprobate screamed as she felt a blade sink into her shoulder, causing her to release his collar which allowed him to escape. Faith bit her lip, trying to force the tears back from streaming from her eyes while she tugged the dagger from her flesh and frantically began wrapping the wound with bandages out of her small leather pouch.

The Reprobate then pulled herself over to the tree she used to be perched in and lent against it, examining the dead body ahead of her and her own bloody shoulder.

Why do I always regret my work, when I am only doing what is right....

Owsla

The fall was the time of gathering, weither it be supplies, materials for protection or anything else. It was that time where you gathered your stuff before the coldness of winter. For Owsla, this was a time of easy theft, but the forest rarely held anything but food and on occation necos passing through. She sat on top of a large metal tortoise shell on makeshift wheels, eyes moving darting around the forest as she held her arm to keep it from bleeding. Something had gotten a good hit on her from the trees from where she couldn't see. That was something that really kept her on edge.

She pushed herself and the shell of the tree as to start it moving as she balenced herself on top of it. It started to move on it's own once she pushed, but slowly as she turned and weaved through trees and looked up at the tree tops in hopes that it wouldn't find her.

Her arm kept bleeding, making her unsure if the what ever hit her had sliced a vain or just flesh, but for now she was out of medical supplies and knowing most nekos, she would have to trick them out of giving her treatment.

She soon came upon a cabin. A cabin meant people. At this point, she doubted that it would take much to make them weary of her with with a hunting knife on her back. "Excuse me! Does anyone on know how to patch this?" She called out as she rode closer toward the cabin and trying to look as innocent as she could.

Oreron
Oreron grew impatient. His drink was taking too long for it to be any good reason other than making him leave with him actually talking. So he abliged. He walked out, upright this time as he hissed at those passing by him. He was irritated, a common emotion these days. Forced to be alone due to the war, and still that way due to the world the war had made it. He wandered about the street on all fours again, looking for somewhere else to gather his thoughts. Nothing that the world had become would ever make him see the light except for one thing.

He wandered into what seemed like a deserted bar. Somewhere to think and calm himself. Or so he thought. There was one other male there. A neko for sure, but a pitiful sight to behold. Drunkeness and sorrow was bleeding off of the male as he wandered in on all fours. The blood on his armor flaking off from it drying. However, even the most pitiful neko could be dangerous and he was in no mood to fight.

He sat on the opposite side of the bar, opening the helm somewhat so only a sliver of flesh could be seen as he watched the male in case he came after him first.

(Just saying, Ace was hiding in the bushes when he spoke. Lets just say Gabriel saw him and so he rose. I do believe WolfDawn is waiting for a reply from Ember and Marishka, her character is watching them :3 Make sure Owsla gets a display picture up, sorry for being picky~)

Ace Tyrant

As the pupils of the icy haired stranger found his rather pathetic hiding place, Ace rose to his feet, arrow still aimed at his forehead just in case he pounced. The blonde looked uneasy as he stepped forward, Adams apple bobbing in his throat, yet he still tried to hold a stern and defensive expression. "I guess you woodland people lack manners." Ace's next sentence just slid from his tongue;tone a little sarcastic and jokey, a little more like Ace. "Manners are rare from anyone these days, you should be satisfied with a scrawny archer instead of a pack of us with swords." Though he had the ability to adapt decent conversation, Sophia was still raised.

"I am neither, as I do not know who you are, Blondie, and so I will not harm you either way."

"Neither...?" Ace blinked a few times, how could somebody be neither? His curious eyes narrowed upon the specie-less man, pondering his answer. "My name is Ace Tyrant, I'm a Neko, not that it matters. Care to share your own name? At least." The ice mans gaze made the male a little uncomfortable, though he did his best to remain submissive, lowering his weapon but still not placing it away. "Why are you hanging around here?..."

"Excuse me! Does anyone on know how to patch this?"

A young feminine voice echoed through the woodland, coming from the direction of his cabin, with a instant reaction he pounced towards the voice, waving his fingertips to signal the nameless stranger to follow after him. After a short while of dodging trees and tripping clumsily over roots, Ace came out into a opening where a old, patched, and mossy little wooden house stood. Beside it a young teen, who appeared to have the appearance of a feral child. Most importantly she was wounded, thick crimson dripping from the gasp.

"Freeze!" Ace cried with wide and panicky eyes, raising Sophia once again, before quickly spinning back to the male he met before hand. "Is this a trap? Did you set this up!?" The blonde kept tipping his head back over his shoulder, but it was difficult to keep a eye on both of them at once.

Ember ignored the girl for a moment, silent thinking to herself about the possibilities. She could kill the girl and not tell Gabriel about it. A deceivers way. The idea didn't mean anything to her, but she never tried to associate herself with being a liar until now. The idea was oddly... just not her type of hiding someone's death. It would be better just to take her prisoner and have Gabriel decide her death. Better plan. Ember commented to her self as she stared at the girl and took out a black rubber chain.

Upon seeing the rubber chain, Marishka knew she was going to become the dead lady's prisoner. Something that was a lot worse than death. She could be tortured or become some idiotic guy's harem girl. Marishka felt insulted at the thought, but she kept her mouth shut and watched as the stranger wrapped her hands in the rubber metal. She tested it a bit and felt it give. She thinks this will keep me occupied?! Hah!, its a good thing I brought my kn- Her thought was cut off as she watched the chain melt and wrap her hands, mummy style to her stomach. Much more difficult to escape.

Ember watched her prisoner glare at her bonds before walking toward the dead buck. "You can run away, but no one else can get the bonds off you. You can wander the woods for days and most likely die from starvation or malnutrition. If anyone else touches it, it'll just tighten its grip on you until your blood circulation is cut off. You can burn it off but that type of temperature would also kill you. I suggest you follow me and just do as your told." Her monotonous words were somewhat sharper than usual, and this - from the look on Marishka's face - scared her. She yanked her dead buck up, only to put it back down again. She stared at it before leaving it for the animals. It wasn't exactly a waste of food, but it could have provide her and her companion with food for a month or two.

Marishka glared after Ember, and started trudging after her. There was no point in running away. She made that perfectly clear, and all the was left, was to follow.

When Ember had finally tracked down her companion's tracks, she found him sitting in the company of an armed man. Apparently someone's hostage for the moment. She gritted her teeth and irritatedly shoved her brown hair away from her face. "Stay here." She commanded Marishka before jumping into a tree, and jumping from tree to tree silently making her way to a tree branch right above the blondie. Ember was going to do exactly what Gabriel had done to her, but this time, she's be successful. She positioned herself correctly and dropped from the branch, and if she was correct, she'd tackle the - hopefully light weighted - man to the ground. Her armor gave her several extra pounds and she already weighed a lot, just muscles and bones. She didn't have any weapons in her hands because she didn't want to accidentally fall on her own knife.

By the time Aleph heard the tell-tale creak of the old door opening due to someone else's appearance, he had already downed a few more bottles. The effects of the alcohol were present, by the way everything seemed a tad-bit blurry and the fact that he was a bit upset that he was just moping around in a....

....where was he again?

Oh yes, a bar.

He was still working on another bottle, which was to go join the bottle graveyard he had made when he had finished it. Among the previous, sad features already mentioned, there was now a horrid stench coming from his mouth because of the beer. If anything, it completed his depressing appearance. That same, down person moved his eyes towards the person who had entered the bar, and followed him with his eyes as it walked on our fours to one side of the bar, metallic sounds emitted from its each and every step. To be honest, the sound annoyed Aleph greatly. It sounded much like him when he took steps in his old armor, but for whatever reason, he didn't like the sound anymore. Well, to say he liked it was a lie, he just didn't notice it before since it was so common for him. Now, however, he just wanted it to stop.

It eventually did. The figure came to stop at a seat far away from Aleph's own. Wise. A normal Neco in a drunk state like Aleph might be inclined to take out his pain on someone else. But, of course, Aleph realized that his pain was his own, and that he would probably be at a heavy disadvantage with the ground looking so soft at the moment anyway. Beside, Aleph just didn't want to fight. It wasn't something he would do if he didn't absolutely have to, and this thing didn't make any suggestive moves just yet, so maybe it didn't either. Hopefully.

Aleph raised a bottle and the gruffly spoke, "...Poison's on the house." he said, making a pitiful laugh. He took a drink, then tried to give the metallic thing a better look. You know... it seemed familiar, actually. Walking on all fours.... wearing armor..... showing up at neutrally at strange times.... "....Philip?" he asked, blinking a few times.

Oreron
Oreron growled and rolled his eyes under his helm. He had not been called that name in years and the only one that had ever called him that never bothered to get his name in the first place. "Yes, Banton. Surprised your memory is in tact from all the alcohol." He said, his voice as raspy and disused as it always has been. He hopped a few seats closer to the male, coming that get a better looks and gave a headshake of dissapproval.

"What happened to the honorable warrior of years past? Time caught up with you?" He asked sarcasticly. Time has also caught up with Oreron. New scars had been added and his smile stitched enough to give him some control of his open mouth undernith his headpeace. "poison is not what I want at the moment either." he said softly to himself as he stared down at the wood in front of him in thought.

Owsla
Owsla leaned back a bit and raised her good arm in genune surprise. "I'm not here to give trouble man!" she snapped back, putting her hand back on the wound from the sting of it. She hissed at the thought of being accused of setting up a trap...or well being part of one she didn't know about. She already had an idea of the blonde with the bow however. An idiot.

She rolled her eyes, knowing if she wanted treatment she could have to lie to get to them.

"I just wanted help mister. I don't know this guy at all. So, can you help me? I'm starting to feel light headed." She said in the voice that made her sound like she was tired. In reality, he wasn't as much tired as she was ready to run with a fresh wound as she eyed the male. There was no way she could get away from the tree tops, but her shell would make a good defence if she would need it.

The Reprobate

With a groan, the demonic blonde dragged her wounded body to her feet, wincing as she did so. Her vision became a little hazy, not helped by the lack of food and water. The down side of being a Sapien was the inability to heal quickly, withstand pain and disease, and of course the lack of strength. Somehow Faith had passed off for a Neco in the past, but what with her scarred and easily bruised body, her species was not something she had the ability to hide anymore. Now she held so much pride with the title "Sapien" it made her sick to her stomach to think she told such lies as a youth.

The Reprobate limped back over towards the corpse of the male she had just slaughtered and removed her spear with one single and thorough yank before strapping it tightly onto her back. Faith could not bring her pupils to look upon the male, guilt and shame were always emotions that followed one of her killings, but she just labeled it as part of being human, and swatted it from her mind as soon as possible.

The Reprobate began heading in the direction of a familiar village that she knew that was likely to have plenty of medical supplies. It took her longer than usual to reach there, but it felt like no time at all with the thoughts swarming through her mind. The warrior absently began to cry, though even she herself did not realize it. The village was deserted so it appeared;only a tiny place with a pub, empty shops and broken houses. Faith chose the store next door to the bar (*Cough*) and began searching the shelves for anything that would help to speed up the healing, or maybe even just a bite to eat.

Not a crumb or single pill was to be found.

Though the problem was only minor, to her it felt like suddenly the walls were falling in on her and she had no means of escaping. The woman began to sob louder, pulling at her hair and shielding her eyes as though the world was watching her, ready to pounce. The woman broke down like this often, maybe before the war this would be diagnosed as chronic depression or maybe insanity, but now, she was just a blood coated mess. Before Faith new it, she was full blown screaming, visions of the men beating at her body as she hit her own arms against the walls...

(If someone does not post I am going to cry.)

(You're telling me. >.> I wanna post at somepoint too....)

"So it is..." he said, more to make himself acknowledge it than anything else. It's funny, he met Philip on the same day he met Faith, only he was a lot more wary of this man than that woman. And why wouldn't he be? This man - if you can truly call him that - walks on all fours, grunts like an animal, and speaks only when he absolutely has to, usually. There's probably more to him; another side, maybe. But Aleph was no longer interested in befriending people, for they would probably just get killed in the end.

Like always.

Of course, that didn't stop the man from trying to spark up a conversation with him. Truthfully, looking at this man made many old memories come to mind. Memories that weren't centered around him, but centered around the purpose he had lost a while ago. So, naturally, it was a painful thing to even look at him now. He wanted to leave, and almost did, but eventually decided not to for no reason other than it was just rude to leave, and he had met this man before. "Warrior?" he asked, then laughed cruelly. "I was never a warrior. I was just a fool who thought he was. He thought to himself for a moment before continuing. "Were you to glance into a dictionary, you would then find the definition of that word when you looked for it. It would read, most likely, 'A brave or experienced fighter or soldier'.

Experienced... I am. I've killed more people than most, even if I'm not naturally aggressive. However, that doesn't mean I am brave. No, I am a coward who couldn't admit it until he had lost the last thing on this hellhole that meant anything to him. A coward who takes people from this world before their due time, and does so with a foolish justification only he could understand."

Aleph Banton took another drink of his alcohol and set the bottle down.

"Yes, I'm an experienced coward, and a fool to top it off. One may not truly address me as a 'warrior'. Or honorable, at that." Sighing audibly, Aleph stood up. "I wonder if I'm even still half the man I thought I was..." he mumbled to himself, then looked at Phillip. "I am but an excuse for a man who wastes his days regretting nothing but his pathetic attempt at life. But I ask not for pity, nor would I ever expect such. Surely you have more important things to deal with than some drunk rambling on about how worthless he is, so I shall bid you farewell."

For whatever reason, Aleph's speech returned to normal as he started towards the door.

"At the very least, it was nice to see a familiar face. One doesn't get to much these days."

And as he said that, he heard something else. A woman's scream. It was quieter due to the fact it came from outside, probably another building, but he could still make out that sound with ease. After all, he was a knight at one point. Habit forgotten but still implemented, Aleph, of course, set out of the bar in a hurry to go save whomever the scream had come from. Even if he denied any thought of honor just moments ago.

The screams led him to...the building right beside the bar, strangely. Many theories came to mind as he hurried to the building. She could be being raped, tortured, killed, hurt, or anything, really. In this world, nothing was impossible. Funny enough though, Aleph was unable to just go from drunk to hero in an instant, and was not exactly running in a perfect sprint (though to be fair, swirling sidewalks were hard to stay on without falling). In fact, his overall appearance made him look more like a thug and less like a savior than anything, but he didn't really much care for that. He just had to help people. Because depressed or not, he was still himself somewhere deep inside, just he had hidden the majority of it. Aleph walked? into the store and headed immediately to the source of the screams with his sword out, pulled from his storage unit.

Again, he looked more like a threat than anything, but he was expecting some bandits or something to be attacking her.

Instead, she was alone with herself and the cries of agony and anguish. Aleph did not recognize the woman before him at this time. He stopped a few feet of her, unsure as to what to do. By now, she'd have probably noticed him and looked up if she was even barely in a state of mind that allowed her to react to outside stimuli. He was a bit frozen in his confusion. Drunks weren't really good at figuring out what to do in an emergency, so he waited for her to stop, since he wasn't sure the comfort of a beer-breathed man would help at all.

And god damn, that floor was looking cozy....

(Do I get a double-kill for giving you both something to respond to? c:)

(You get a cookie from me!)

Oreron

Oreron rolled his eyes at Aleph, his fall from grace being a story of a long bantered regrets and loss. Something that he himself had experianced, though he didn't often lement over it until recently. However, the former knight had become sort of an aquatance and seeing him in such a state where he shouldn't even be on his feet, let alone walking. He tapped his claw on his helm and closed it.

His head also turned toward the sound of the scream, though he wasn't one to immidiently wander over to it. The training from the war, his experiance as a general and his time wandering the wastes made him weary of the screams of females that came from afar. Most meant traps to him. Those set by bandit or rogue mercs. This thought didn't seem to cross the mind of his drunken companion.

He shook his head in an 'are you kidding me fashion' and trotted after him on all fours. If he knew one thing, it was that impared soilders were the one thing you didn't want going any where. Even if they were on to something.

The woman was alone...as much as she could be with a drunk walking toward him. he rolled his eyes under his helm and kept himself low to the ground so to woman wouldn't notice him as much. She was in some sort of emotional pain from what he could see, a pattern that he had come across in recent times. Then again, he had been carrying his own pain for years now.

(No you get a penta kill, five honorables, and 9 pulse-fire Ezreals XD By the way shall I just continue with Ace and pretend Gabriel was just interrupted?)

The Reprobate

Faith heard the sound of clumsy footsteps heading towards her, it took her less than a second to realize her stupidity. Still, the shop seemed unreal and her tear coated vision was still burred but managed to catch the sight of a figure standing ahead of her. At this moment in time all she could make out was that the stranger was a large male and most importantly a Neco. He also stank strongly of alcohol which gave The Reprobate the wrong impression already.

She quit hurting herself and turned quickly defensive, though her movements were panicked and it really did not seem like she was in a fit condition for a fight. The blonde arms were already speckled with horrible purple bruises not to mention her bloody left shoulder. He is going to beat me...and there is nothing I can do.... Faith reached for her spear, which was still drenched with the crimson blood of her last victim. She pointed the tip towards the silent man, still luke warm liquid dripping from the blade and into a pool upon the laminate floor.

"Get back N..Neco parasite!" She cried, stumbling uneasily to her feet. Her voice was still swarmed with sobs and heavy breaths. "Don't touch me!" Faith began to almost seem like she was screaming. He is going to beat me...and there is nothing I can do.... She noticed a second figure, crouching low, but being all too honest she was unsure what exactly the shadow belonged to. What ever it was, it triggered something in her mind, and it hurt.

The angelic demon swung towards the brunette male, attempting to slash across his chest but she missed and simply clipped the top of his arm causing a thin pitiful cut. The blonde than started to stumble backwards, the world spinning as she clutched her head and cried in thick messy sobs.

He is going to beat me...and there is nothing I can do....

She was riddled with wounds, mostly bruises upon her slender white arms, and a bloodied injury on her shoulder. They seemed so fragile that if you even touched them, they would break. However, that didn't stop her from picking up her weapon in a swift, unrefined motion. He figured she was in a panicked state still and that she probably wasn't going to trust a stranger with alcohol on his breath really easily. This would make things a bit difficult.

He wasn't sure what to do. Being drunk really didn't help him think.

The fragile woman point her spear at Aleph as she pathetically stood up. It was a saddening sight. She reminded him of himself when he first lost Faith, literally, back a while ago. But she was scared whereas he was depressed. Much too different. He wasn't entirely sure why she was terrified. Maybe she was raped? Something horrible, he was sure, but as soon as she spoke.... he figured it out instantly, even drunk.

"Neco Parasite....?" he repeated to himself. It was obvious now. She was a human. An older kind. The 'obsolete' Homosapien kind. The kind that Homonecos had long ago nearly obliterated, and that were treated with great distaste by Aleph's own people. It was probably necos that did this to her, and if she fought anyone, it would probably have been a neco, since sapiens were a rare sight. She was terrified of him. But just leaving her alone would probably get her killed, since she wasn't in any shape to be fighting for her life. Hopefully, he could solve this without violence, because neither would be able to really put up much a fight, and he didn't want to rely on Orien, who had no obligation to do anything else than watch the events play out.

"Hey... Calm down.... I'm here to help, not hu---"

In that moment, as he attempted to speak to her, she lashed out and grazed his arm. It still drew blood though. Obviously, the young, drunk man took a step back to make it easier to see another attack incoming. Whether or not this caution was needed was irrelevant. The woman fell back a bit, grabbing her head and - if he wasn't drunk - providing an easy target. Not that she was a target for him. He wasn't looking to kill her, just calm her. But hopefully he didn't have to suffer too many more cuts to do that. "I don't seek to harm you, ma'am, please calm down." he nearly pleaded. But would she? He was a neco, and she seemed frightened of them. Hopefully things didn't have to get messy.

(I prefer voidlings like Kog'maw, but that works.)

Oreron

Oreron layed low some ways away from the two, but the smell of blood flowed clearly through his helm. The fact this female had lashed out so harshly was not surprising and in her position, he would not want someone who was very close to falling flat on his face from alcohol. He sighed abudily, finally raising himself off the ground and trotting toward the two.

His armor was stained in blood, dinged and scratched from the many fights and scuffles that he had been in during the past two years of searching. Normally, hostile saipians were not a problem. Usually he left them to their own devices since he had no animosity to their kind in the first place. He only needed her calm and cohearent.

He nudged Aleph out of the way and sat like an animal infront of the saipien. He was quiet with the expection of a light purr coming from him. "Nothing shall harm you." she said, a growly and raspy tone from his vocal disuse. "The drunk will not harm you either. I only seek an answer." His words were calm, unthreatening, but sounded more like an animal speaking than any sort of human or neco. The helm making his voice metalic, covered it even more in hoping that she wouldn't lash out at him as well.

((I really don't want to kill one of my characters unless I really, desperately/want to))

Ember looked to her left/right (wherever Kaijay is at) and stiffened. She loosened her muscles and stared at the stranger, before speaking. "Are your intentions to harm or to befriend?"

Marishka snorted at Ember's words and continued to stand still.

Gabriel walked over to the strange girl and asked, "What exactly happened?"

Owsla

Owsla shook a bit, weary of other necos for good reason. The male that spoke to her had white hair like her, but had a pink eye. Odd. She held her arm out, the bleeding slowing down to a crawl in the fabric she had been holding with with. "I was trying to look for a place to sleep for a while near the forest edge and something nicked me from the tree tops. I didn't see what it was." She said as she slid off her wheeled shell.

She really did start to feel light headed from the blood loss. She closed her eyes and let herself sway a bit to keep herself from falling over from woozyness. She turned her head toward the blonde and tilted her head to the side. "Do you know him?" She asked, now leaning against her shell for support.

Ace Tyrant

"I'm not here to give trouble man!"
"I just wanted help mister. I don't know this guy at all. So, can you help me? I'm starting to feel light headed."

Of course Ace was still panicking; too many people at once and no Jennifer to drag him out of the situation. He was stuck and surrounded, but he saw that the girl was telling to truth and so naturally, being the little puss-puss he was decided helping her would not be such a awful thing. However, for the moment he felt uncomfortable and so just simply stated. "Only if you step back..."

Thud.

Ace cried out as he felt a pair of feet push on his chest and send him slamming to the ground. The landing was rather painful, but atleast he did not land on Sophia arrows which could have been quite nasty. The first thing the blonde male presumed was that the white haired males trap had worked, and this attacker had been sitting in the treetops waiting for the perfect time to leap. He began to kick and cry out, looking rather pitiful pinned under this woman.

Wait.

He stopped. Blondie suddenly aloud himself to be over powered and glared up at the woman, directly into her eyes, and then he began to smile. He did not care if she was to murder him on the spot, her face, though dangerous, brought back many memories. "Hello again! I don't recall your name, but do you remember me? I saved your ass once!" Ace chirped excitedly in a child like way, forgetting all about the messy situation at hand. "A few years ago, I was with a black haired lady...Anyway lets have this conversation later! Mind getting off me so I can save yet another ass? " He stated before nodding over to the wounded young girl.

"If the white haired guy is either of your twos partners he is...welcome...too. I myself do not know him..."