The Fortress

Liron Aldaine ; The Fortress

Mornings started early for Tenko. Light calisthenics with followed by more rigorous exercises were what he normally started his day with. He usually followed up by running several laps around the Fortress to get his blood flowing. By this time the majority of the other soldiers on the base were finally getting up for their morning duties. He finished with a quick wash off in the barracks showers. The water was a precious resource, which limited shower times to three minutes maximum. He needed to look his best for when the time came for his address.

After his shower he donned some cleaner clothes that he had brought to the shower before heading back to his private quarters. I wonder if Lu is still asleep... The thought brought a wry smile to his face. He wondered how he could've managed the Army and brought it to where it was today without her. He quietly entered the room to take his uniform out of the small wardrobe he had and donned it quickly. Leaving as quietly as he arrived, Tenko made his way through the base towards the agreed point where he would make the speech.

As he made his way through the base, soldiers stopped what they were doing at the time and saluted him before returning to their duties. A nod of affirmation was his usual response. Occasionally he would stop to inquire how the work was, what was the state of the base, and if they had any observations that they thought he should know. Taking mental notes of their answers he continued to make his way to the place where he'd make his speech. He would make the speech from a makeshift walkway at the front of the Fortress that extended over the main gate. The walkway was in full view of a massive open area that led up to the Fortress, an ideal spot for any announcements for the surrounding city.

Tenko looked skyward to see if there would be any clouds today that might provide some relief from the oppressive heat of the mid-morning sun. No such luck. A small circling bird flew in lazy circles overhead. Liron. Keeping watch as always. He knew he could depend on his spymaster to root out the Rebellion should they decide to pay him a visit during the speech. He almost hoped that the Rebellion would attempt something so they might catch one of their members. He could always hope.

A few more moments passed in silence before Tenko found himself standing at the base of the steps leading up towards the walkway. Not wanting to start anything too soon, he waited for his lieutenants, bodyguard, and advisor to show up before the speech would begin. A small part of himself wished they would take their time rather than show up quickly. He hated public speaking. Sometimes he thought he'd rather fight the strongest mutant known to civilization than give a public speech. He grimaced while waiting for the others to show up, dreading having to give the speech.

The sun was blazing down but the Advisor did not care as she took her daily walk through the city of Aethes. Lorelai smiled at the little children playing with a rag doll. It was so sweet... yet so sad at the same time. If only they could provide the kids with more toys for them to play with. It made her heart ache but when a little Murin girl tugged on her long skirt, Lorelai bent down and gave her a warm smile. "Hello, sweetie, how are you doing today?" The short blonde girl grinned and said that she was doing great and shyly held out a little violet. The young woman hugged the girl for a moment, before taking it and kissing her cheek. They were so sweet. She wished there was more food for them. Even through her dress, she could feel each prominant rib. Then the Murin was called by a friend and with a happy wave, scampered off, kicking up dust in the process. Lorelai watched her go, holding the tiny flower gently. She would have to press it in her book before it died. Already, she could see that it was starting to wilt so she hurried back to The Fortress. Lorelai hummed quietly to herself as she made her way to home. It was hotter than usual today, the sun was already starting to burn her nose. Many of the soldiers were sparring in the arena and Lorelai partly wished to take part as well. It would be fun... but there was something important taking place that she couldn't really remember at the moment, so she shrugged it off. Kids were playing, others were lazing around. It was a good day. However, Lorelai couldn't help but stay alert. The Pack wanted to destroy this peace. Why? She had no idea, but she would do her best to root them out. If anything happened... well.. she wouldn't be so easy to forgive. This was her home, her family...

Her steps barely touched the ground as Lorelai walked. Her eyes were bright and her smile was in place. Many others called out hello's and how are you's. It really was sweet. Her heart felt as if it would burst with the love she felt for her people. She entered the building and quickly skipped up the steps to the library. There weren't many books left that were in good condition, but she liked it there. The old smell of paper and ink comforted Lorelai. She reached into a drawer and took out a large, leather book. Inside, there were all the flowers that she had found and received from people. Her long slender fingers gently rearranged the petals and closed the book softly. It's binding was starting to come apart and the pages were yellow... but it was one of her most prized posessions.

Her amber eyes strayed to the window, catching a glimpse of Liron circling the air. The young woman jumped to her feet rather gracefully. Tenko! It was his speech today.. how could she have forgotten? Maybe it was the heat? She hurried to her room, where Lorelai fixed her hair and slipped into a bright yellow, flowered kimono that her Ariad friend had made for her as a present. It was her favorite and the warm hue made her skin and eyes glow. After making sure her locket was in place, Lorelai headed out to meet her husband. She smiled as she remembered the last speech. It wasn't the best... but he had tried really hard. As she headed toward the walkway, she grinned once she saw him. He had to smile more. Even if someone is not good at talking, smiling will almost always make up for it.

"Are you excited for the speech, Tenko?" She called as she got closer. It seemed like it was going to be an interesting day.

Atra kept at relative distance from Tenko, surveying the surrounding areas of wherever he went. He made it an effort to profile everyone the leader interacted with and took their gestures and reactive emotions into account. In his mind, he categorized those he frequented into groups that could likely be traitors or those loyal to the cause. Very rarely was Tenko ever in any actual harm and even if his life were in danger, he was more than capable of defending himself. For Atra, a bodyguard was no different than a watch dog, to say the least.

He idly sat by as Tenko met with officials to discuss city matters, daily upkeep, reserves and army tactics. He observed like a fly on the wall as Tenko rallied the troops or met with grateful citizens. It was agonizingly peaceful. He secretly wished for danger - an insurrection of some kind or an assassination attempt. Anything. It was a cruel wish to ask for but Atra could not deny the thrill of the fight, nor be modest of his ability to end it. Even sparring with fellow soldiers grew monotonous.

Today, however, his spirits were high. A speech, Atra grumbled at the word, is to be given to the people. Many will gather for this event, and while the army is making adequate preparations against any possible attack, one could still slip past their defenses. Someone foolishly brave enough for the bodyguard to cut down and finally appease his hunger for violence.

Atra salivated the thought as he continued to ghost Tenko around until he finally stopped at a walkway. This is where he'll address Aethes, Atra thought as he looked out into the vast, open space soon to be filled with people. He'd been at Tenko's side long enough to know his distaste for public speeches. Scaling off a column from the fortress, he leaped down and cautiously landed behind his leader.

"You'll do fine." Atra said dryly, leaning against a pillar.

Hiibel Talcen; The Fortress

It was a hot day, as usual, and the sun was beating down on Aethes, cooking all the inhabitants and causing general discomfort. And speaking of generals, one was making a speech today! Mr. Tenko Kieran, the big boss himself, presenting something-or-other or maybe it was that-other-thing-that-couldn't-be-bothered-with... or was it the public-speech-of-all-is-well? Well, at any rate, whatever the speech may be about, he, Hiibel, had been assigned to keep watch from within the crowd...

But it was too hot for that, too ugly of a day for such trivialities. It was a speech, and there was little more than that. Sure, there were supposed to be rebels around, and they may or may not be there, but was a speech really what was needed to bring them out? And would they really wish to come out of their den-of-hidingness that would definitely be cooler than the great outdoors? Ah, a den... that would be nice... Hiibel was in the mood for a nap, and it would be so much better to do that than listen to yet another not-quite-original, of-course-it-couldn't-be-boring, amazing speech by the sure-he's-great-and-all-but-does-he-have-to-sound-so-rehearsed leader from up above?

But orders were orders, and from Liron no less... But Liron expected less than perfection (or was it no less? It was good enough, anyway...), so that was what he would get. He could watch, listen, do whatever to monitor the ceremony from above on the roofs, right? And if it was just too hot, too cool, too loud, too quiet, that he just so happened to fall asleep, could he really be blamed? Or at least, could he really be blamed that much? He'd be paying attention, at least as much as he could. They could ask for little more than that from him!

Hiibel quickly scaled a building near the fortress, near the performance spot, a building just high enough to make him just-about-level-with-the-speech-platform but not quite high enough to make him above-the-leader-and-thus-a-rebel... He scaled it quickly, finding footholds, handholds, and making his way up methodically. He was up in little time at all but was quickly down again in the shade, shaded by the sloping of the roof, the only one down there with some protection from the increasingly hot heat from the sun.

He gazed up into the air, watching the kestrel-who's-not-just-a-kestrel in the air, wheeling around and keeping watch. Ah, Liron. He grinned up at him, purposefully showing a little more teeth than would be expected for a smile. See what his reaction for him being on the roof would be. Well, he could always do what he would instead be doing down there up here, right? Left. All that's left is to make it seem like he's actually doing something, at least from above. He crawled near the edge and propped his head in his hands, watching the crowd form below, watching the smaller residents mingle, chatter, talk about oh-how-are-you-I'm-hot and whatever else was meaninglessly important... And just for the enjoyment (surprise or fear, really, but they amounted to the same thing, and at any rate, he'd be enjoying it!) of those below if they just so happened to look up and see him, he began to look, almost hungrily and licking his lips. See what they make of it!

Ah, this could be fun, but he probably shouldn't fall asleep. But lookout duty was so boring, and there were other spies situated every-which-way and who-knows-where, keeping watch on the probably-normal-but-maybe-not happenings of the crowd down below. Well, he could always make it more exciting for them, give Liron something to laugh about in their reports! If there happened to be a boring point in the speech (there always was, it was a rule with speeches, rule 37, wasn't it?), he'd jump down from his hiding spot and make a grand entrance, figuring out what to say as he needed to and then reacting in response to whatever their response was. What use was a plan if you had no idea how they would respond? And what fun was a plan anyway?

Hiibel leaned forward on his hands and continued to watch the scene unfold below him, awaiting the speech of that oh-so-awesome-leader-of-ours-who-always-appears-above-the-gates-of-the-fortress-for-his-speeches-and-could-beat-any-of-us-in-a-fight. Ah, this would be fun!

Blinking sleepily, Kiarna awoke with the sun in her eyes and a sudden thought that something was going on today. What was it.... Oh, yes. Their mighty leader was putting on a speech. Did she really need to go? It was so hot.... A day good for nothing but sleeping, really. But, then again, it was probably a good idea to go. Offer some sort of moral support or... Something. Anyway, she wasn't tired enough to go back to sleep.

With a quiet groan of inner protest, she stood to her feet and stretched, pushing her hair out of her face and straightening her tunic. With all this heat, she wouldn't be surprised if some of the thicker coated Changers started getting heat-sick or fainting and came whining to her about it. Honestly, if she had told them once, she had told them a thousand times that the best and really the only thing to do for heat sickness was to get out of the heat. What was so hard to udnerstand about that? Of course, if it got too irritating, she could always give them some nastier tasting herbs. That generally kept them quiet for a few days, at least.

The dark haired Miao slipped out the door and into the street, heading with purposeful, quiet footsteps towards the where the speech was to be held. Stopping when she got to the edge of throng that was gathering, she gave a short growl of annoyance and then began to wade through the crowd, finally drawing close enough to the platform to see Tenko and his bodyguard. Pushing past the last few people in her way, she gave a stiff nod in their direction and stood as near to the front of the crowd as she could and still see the platform, her arms crossed and feet set wide apart.

The nights in the wastes passed far too quickly in Farren’s opinion, and Aethes was no exception to this fact. It felt as if only mere moments had passed since moonrise, since the stars had appeared, since the reservoir had lit up with those strange, ethereal glows… but he had seen the lights fade into the waters as the sun peaked the horizon. Another night had come and gone. It had been yet another sleepless night for the First Lieutenant, and now the calm of the cool darkness made way for the blistering heat and the commotions of The Army.

Exactly which imbecile’s idea had it been for Tenko to make a speech on such a day?

The preparations were tedious – the positioning of the soldiers, the distribution of the people, they were all things that to be arranged specifically for the occasion… this pointless occasion. They’d gone through the motions before. Farren still remembered the leader’s last attempt at oration. His grey eyes narrowed at the memory. With such mediocre words, he wondered how Tenko had managed to inspire such confidence, such support from the people. Well, then again, if the speeches were successful, there would have been no reason for bloodshed in the first place. These ‘rebels’ would have been rooted out by the outraged citizens of Aethes themselves. That man had far more than a mere army at his disposal – he had a whole city at hand with all its people, yet the he lacked the will or simply the thought to use it. The fool.

Farren had decided for himself that such ‘public speeches’ were to be treated simply as a front. After all, it was the perfect opportunity to bait out those rebels and be rid of them once and for all. If it was up to him alone, he would have issued a kill-on-sight command to all the soldiers should they notice any rebel activity. However, he had been opposed. Kill-on-sight would have ‘disrupted the peace’ and ‘caused a commotion’.

Really, in that case, the commotion would have started a long time ago. If done right, there would have been no problem… and Farren made sure he did things right.

… The heat was getting to him, irritating him… otherwise he wouldn’t be thinking such thoughts so early in the day. Unlike some other changers, like those soldiers lazing about in the shade as animals, Farren had no such option. The dark coat of his lupus form would have simply absorbed the sun’s rays to irk him all the more. However, the fact of the matter was, his uniform was not much better.

Now that it occurred to him, what excuse could these soldiers possibly have for shirking their duty in favor of rest? Surely they would have learned by now that his orders were not to be taken lightly, and with his current level of irritation, they might just all find themselves in the fighting pit for no reward at all… no. He couldn’t lose his head over a little bit of sun. With such a big event, every soldier mattered. He slowed to a stop when he passed one of the buildings within the fortress, with concrete slabs arranged into a sort of tilted overhang.

“The four of you,” he stated slowly, staring down at their heaving forms. “You’re stationed by the main gates.”

Startled by the sudden appearance of their lieutenant, the soldiers bolted upright. Two dogs cringed, ears flattened back and head dipped in some vague degree of shame. The miao took to slinking further into the shade, at which Farren narrowed his eyes further. The cat froze.

Only one soldier was in human form, and he wore no shirt in an attempt to salvage some degree of comfort. Clearly, from the heavy breathing, it helped very, very little. This changer opened his mouth to stammer some irrelevant excuse – something about the heat, something about the speech… pointless and useless nonsense. His ramblings were cut short when Farren stepped forward, slow enough to see the next excuse die on this soldier’s lips.

“Some fine soldiers are braving this heat in the fighting pit. If you do not wish to work, you are free to join them,” Farren told them. The heat of the sun did little to warm the coldness of his words. “If the sun is all it takes to bring you to your knees, perhaps you need more training.” He cut the next excuse short. “Do not try to justify your actions. If the heat is your excuse, it is for every other changer in Aethes. Tell me, then where would the Army be?”

Closer to where he wanted it to be, that’s where. If only the Army were so weak and feeble, everything would fall into place as he wanted it. However, Farren knew better than to linger on impossible thoughts. The fact of the matter was, Aethes was Tenko’s. Farren was simply the commander of the forces. Well, with some patience, all that would come to change… but for now…

“If you understand me, get to your posts,” he ordered. Swiftly and silently, the four did just that.

Farren grimaced and looked about him at the Fortress. To one side was a line of makeshift warehouses, each seemingly secure and guarded. To the other side were the crumbling barracks, where it seemed more soldiers had taken refuge from the beating sun. He would deal with them later. As of now, Farren had to report to the leader for duty.

The walkway was one of the main features of the Fortress, but really only ever used on occasions such as this. It was here, as always, that Farren found the others. He noted how that other Lieutenant had yet to arrive. However, Tenko and his wife was, along with Atra, that half-blind ariad bodyguard. Ah, yes, he was always near the leader. That was his role after all… He was good at what he does, perhaps did his job a little too well for Farren’s liking.

Then again, Farren had to admit that observing this bodyguard was a great deal of help in training that pair.

Drawing closer, Farren nodded to Tenko, raising his hand in salute. How much longer would he have to play this little game…? “Sir, the base is secure and the people have begun to gather. All we await is your speech,” he said in as proper a voice as he could manage. It sounded reasonably respectable.

Tenko Kieran - The Fortress

The time was now at hand. A sizable crowd had filled the open ground below the walkway; most of the crowd milled about while waiting for Tenko to give his speech. Some were bored, others looked around nervously, and others still were shuffling around while waiting for their day to continue. With one final nod to his lieutenants, bodyguard, and wife, he ascended the steps to face the crowd. From his position in front of them, the crowds size seemed to triple. Tenko felt exposed and vulnerable. He almost considered just backing off and letting his propaganda officer take care of public relations, but that was no way to run a nation. Especially the kind of nation he hoped to create. Yet how to proceed still eluded him. A thought bubbled forth from the backs of his mind. After hastily clearing his throat, he spoke out to the crowd.

"My fellow Changers! This harsh world we have been born into nearly destroyed all of civilization as we know it! Our human ancestors grouped together for their survival in their small groups. They fought, they warred, yet they endured. They continued to see themselves as the superior beings in the world." Tenko slowly began to pace back and forth. "And then we came along. We, the Changers, who are the next step in the evolutionary chain! We who were cast out of our old lives among the humans out of their fear of us! Their fear of knowing that they were threatened! The fear of being obsolete! Yet our exile did not mean the end of our kind! Our exile from the humans has only made us stronger! Look!" Tenko spread his arms out. "Look what we have accomplished! Our budding civilization that the humans could only dream of!" Tenko rested his hands on the rail of the walkway and leaned forward towards the crowd. "Imagine what we could do if we continued to grow! To welcome our fellow Changers into our fold! To expand our nation! To retake this desolate world for ourselves! We can take this world from the inferior humans! We can reshape the world in any way we wish! This is our time! This is our task! This is our duty! We can create a world where our children and their children can live free of oppression and hatred! They can live in a world where life and death do not hang in the balance every day! A world for the Changers! Brothers!!!" Tenko raised his right arm. "Sisters!!!" Tenko raised his left arm to match the height of his right. "This is our destiny!!!"

The crowd was silent. Every face was staring towards him with some sort of emotion that he couldn't read. He felt rather out of place and even more embarrassed than he had at the start. But then an explosion of sound burst forth from the crowd as they cheered. Tenko gave a slight smile before turning back to the steps and went back to Lorelai, Atra, Farren, and Sevrin. He gave another one of his rare smiles as he looked at them.

"Well that went better than expected."

Hiibel Talcen; The Fortress

Oh, look! Motion from the walkway! General Man was arriving with his posse! Heh, pussy... Oh well, like it or not: speech time! "My fellow Changers! This harsh world we have been born into..." ...and boring already... Surprise them all! Catch them by surprise! With such a boring introduction, well, who wouldn't lose interest immediately?

There was the introduction-of-yes-we're-awesome, followed of course by the here's-what-should-happen-next-which-we-already-say-we-do. Then the remention-of-awesomeness that has to be inserted everywhere throughout... And it finally ends with the plea-of-let's-all-work-together-for-the-benefit-of-all... But don't forget that in order to show others that he's done, he must do the wait-for-applause-because-we've-all-seen-how-it-works-out-when-you-don't position, hands raised, egging them on... Been there, done that.

Hiibel sighed and stretched his arms, waiting for that general dude to say something not-quite-rehearsed-sounding... Or maybe one of those minions from behind would do something? The lieutenants, what's-their-faces, Fairy and Coral, right? No? Whatever. Oh, hold on a second. One of them wasn't there, but she was sure to come rushing in later, making it seem like she wasn't late at all, or that she had a good enough reason for it... But it was a boring speech, so... he couldn't quite blame her.

Also in the background was the wifey, something-or-other. Mrs. Lordly. And the spider-someone-or-other was there as well. Arty. Oh, and another cat. Umm... what was his name? Something Mace-something. Well, Mace would do if they ever talked. That was probably all, he didn't recognize anyone else up there. Just Mr. Man up there with his squad of supporters. There to make him look better, more important. There to hold him up in case he collapsed from the hard work of making up something original.

Well, the good news was, the speech was short. No hey-I'm-saying-something-to-say-something-so-you-think-I'm-saying-something-important-and-hey-don't-I-sound-cool-saying-my-speech-thing-all-long-and-such. Nothing long and winded, but nothing interesting or attention-getting either. Which was pretty obvious by the long pause where they think 'wait, is he done now? he is? wow, that's fast... are you sure that's all?' followed by the over-loud applause of hey-let's-cover-up-our-inattention-by-sounding-even-louder-and-more-enthusiastic!

They were obviously bored, and as a loyal member of the Army, it was his job to give them something to be excited about, make them walk away feeling satisfied with the whole speech thingy. Quench their thirst for excitement, draw their attention away from the heat of the afternoon and leave them satisfied with the day's events. Even if the speech didn't quite speak for itself, the town clown would leave them excited for the city they were in, or at least not dissatisfied. Well, he would try his best to make it so, see how they all reacted.

Hiibel stood up on the roof and took a running start, jumping off the edge and flipping in midair before landing, tumbling, and getting to his feet to make a proclamation of the leader's awesome abilities! ...well, that's how it was supposed to be. But there was this piece of rubble, you see? It was on the roof, and, well, it was small... So it became this awesome-jump-that-turned-into-a-trip-and-fall-in-which-he-somehow-righted-himself-and-landed-on-his-hands-and-knees-crumpling-to-the-ground-in-a-heap. Getting up and wincing slightly, he spoke loudly to cover his mistake, projecting loudly enough that he'd be heard above the dying applause.

"Ladies and gentlemen, an appendix I do give! For we as Changers live in peace here, united in our goals. See those humans, flighty, warlike, scavenging. Watch them struggle amongst themselves for comfort when what they want is right in front of them. And what we want is right in front of us as well! Water, food, shelter. Friends and family. Those who accept us as we are, who do not fight us in an attempt to get what they do not need. We work together, not against each other, in order to survive in this harsh world, in order to build a community, a nation, a world. Killing each other for no reason? Goodness, no! We're not savages, like those who birthed us! We don't send out our own family simply because they appear different!

"No, we accept each other, for our differences as well as our similarities. We fight as one, and together, we can change the world, make it adapt to us instead of the other way around. Thanks to our all-powerful leader, the great Tenko Kieran, we can live in safety from the grudges of those savages. Thanks to him, we can support each other and make our world an amazing place! With his protection, with his help, we will not scavenge. No, we will thrive in this city of ours, in this kingdom. Please, applause, applause for our city, for survival, for dominance! Applaud once again for our leader!"

He brought up his hands, applauding for his speech, for the reprieve from boredom that he had tried to provide. Whether alone or with a crowd, he would continue applauding until someone else broke the calm.

He applauded, hands facing, raised up to the platform, the walkway. Where the leader and his posse had retreated. Sure, there was a slight mocking tone to his voice, sure, he was being theatrical and trying to draw attention, but... what he said was true enough, and it gave a positive light to the army. Well, if anyone took offense, he'd deal with it, react as needed. If someone came back out onto the platform, he'd applaud up to them, applaud them for their great work in actually attracting the interest of the crowd. Well, for his work, but whatever. Let them react as needed, for today at least would not be boring. No, he would do his best to make it as interesting as possible! Well, maybe not that interesting... He had his own welfare to take care of as well...

So he continued with his applause for the leader, applause for us all, and the hey-join-with-me-and-praise-our-all-powerful-leader-who-can't-quite-speak-as-well-as-me!

Kiarna returned Atra's wink with a dry smile, revealing rather sharp teeth. She rather liked the Ariad; although he seemed to be intent on killing himself with all his training, he wasn't stupid by any means. Besides, he was the type she would rather not have as an enemy.

Kiarna's attention was barely on the speech. Why should it be? Yes, it was 'exciting' and 'uplifting' (Tenko was doing surprisingly well today), but it was nothing new. All the information presented in it was common knowledge. 'Brilliantly' phrased, perhaps, but still common knowledge.

But then again, all speeches were common knowledge. Interesting stuff was never shouted from a platform for the city and whoever else might be around to hear. Interesting stuff was picked up when those speaking thought nobody else was listening. Not that she went looking for that information; delirious mumblings of the sick or wounded, whispers outside her tent while she stitched a soldier up and his companions waited to see if he was okay and discussed the mission he was hurt on or their newest assignment, people talking because they either thought she wasn't paying attention, or didn't care.

She was no spy, though. Not for either side. Any interesting tidbits she picked up were stashed away to be used only for her own private purposes, which was usually as small as asking for extra bandages or salve during a week she knew many changers would be on special missions. Honestly, she could do without the data, but since she had it, why not make it useful?

Realizing by the applause about her that the speech was over, Kiarna gave a polite bit of clapping herself, and was then startled by a figure leaping from a roof and beginning to speak. After recognizing the changer, she immediately wrote this off as normal behavior. Such things could be expected from Bell. She crossed her arms and watched his performance with carefully measured amusement and apathy in her expression.

Liron Aldaine ; The Fortress

There was nothing of interest so far. Maybe the Rebels had decided that they wished to give in to the superior morals of the Army - they were the ones who wished to help the Changers, after all. Unfortunately, he doubted it. A group of idiots who were so stubborn as to reintroduce humans, the bane of Skinwalker life, into our Aethes, would not suddenly understand the truth and agree to helping the population of people as a whole.

After a few minutes of watching the upper echelon straggling in to the scene, it ought to be time for the speech to start. He caught a glimpse of a taller individual wearing a hat, in their city of shorter Aveis and Murin. Perhaps it was one of the Miao or Raposa that had been denied entrance to the Army. It was in Quadrant III, North corner, he noted.

Tenko began his speech, and still, nothing happened. The speech was better than he had thought, and it certainly was inspirational. Liron was getting a little bored of circling up in the sky, but the Pack might just appear - his coworkers were all too exposed up there on the stage of theirs. He banked again to the right, before scanning the horizon. It was just like a mutant to appear in the middle of this gathering to pick up some of the easier prey. It wasn’t everyday that Murin were gathered outside in the open - they were just making a target out of themselves.

Just to see Hiibel - his spy who was supposed to be on lookout duty - do some sort of half-fall half-leap onto the stage. He nearly forgot to flap his wings and for a few seconds, his wings locked, and he fell down towards the ground. What in the world was that Miao thinking? He was supposed to be there if anything happened - not being the one that they needed to stop. He - he certainly took things to extremes.

Liron caught himself just in time to escape becoming a mass of shattered bones on the ground, but even then, he was too far to the ground for comfort. Hiibel was on the stage with his normal cheery attitude, and started to mock Tenko’s speech, “Ladies and gentlemen, an appendix I do give.” Liron could already tell that this would be a disgrace to the Army and his other spies. A few minutes of his mindless drivel later, and when Liron was attempting to curtail the murderous intent in his eyes, “Applaud once again for our leader.” the idiot Miao started to clap.

He could’ve murdered him right then and there. Or at the very least, gouged his eyes out. Liron would be getting in so much trouble… he would be lucky if Tenko decided to keep him alive after this. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he realized that this would be the best time for the Rebels to do something - there was nothing better than adding injury to insult after all.

Regaining his aerial grace, he swooped upwards, before affixing his subordinate with a glare. A glare that foretold of a lashing or other such punishment in the future. Ah, Liron was going to be killed… His subordinate’s action was a mar on his record… If they thought that he harbored rebels, then he would end up fighting in the pit for the rest of his life.

Maybe if he was lucky, he should not die in the first fight - but maybe not. Probably not.

Kuril Miron; The Fortress


A knife slowly cut into his face, and blood started welling out. Another cut followed. Then the knife slowly approached his eye.

Kuril opened his eye. It was that damn memory again, the day he lost his other eye. He sat up and put one of his paws over his empty eye socket, trying to rub an itch away that was non existent. He'd seen Kirian about it before, but there was nothing much she could do, or for that matter anyone could do. As he slowly woke up, he also realized a pungent, rotting smell was filling up in his cave. Glancing over at the other side of his cave, he saw the rotting, decomposing of his kill. Of course it would be rotting, it was sweltering outside, and it was little better even in the relatively dark cave Kuril had made for himself just outside the Fortress. Growling, Kuril padded over to the rotting corpse and dragged it out into the sun, temporaliy blinding him as he adjusted to the bright light. Kuril dumped the corpse into a random pile of rubble and he changed into his human form. Even in his human form, Kuril was still sweating like a pig, if pigs could sweat. Oh well..beats fur, he thought. There was a general commotion as he approached the Fortress, something big and important. Ah, right. There was a big speech by the Leader today, and apparently it was going in full swing. The guards let Kuril in as soon as they saw him, having heard enough stories about what he did than to follow through with procedure. Kuril ran through the crowd, trying to make it onto to the stage. Hopefully he still had time to get on there without looking like too much of a fool. When he got close enough through, he realized that the speech was ending, and one of the spies was making a fool out of himself, well more of mocking the Leader. A smile started to curl up on Kuril's face under the mask. Such mocking talk was typically punished, and sometimes they got really unlucky and were landed with a session with Kuril. After much screaming and pleading, they were released and typically refused to speak about what had occured and typically never cracked such a joke again.

Quietly, he skirted the now departing cloud and quickly got onto the walkway, giving a disapproving look at the spy. He'd forgotton his name, but he did remember that he was a very... interesting person from his talks with the Spymaster. Walking up to the so called "inner circle", he apologized saying. " Sorry I'm late and I missed the speech, I had some business I needed to take care of." Honestly, there wasn't any reason Kuril felt that he needed to apologize for, but it seemed needed , and it was some common courtesy and respect Servin had drilled into him. Kuril knew he couldn't get away with much, not being that high on the totem pole, and with a section leader who could get most secrets out in a heartbeat.

Sevrin Massengale - The Fortress

Sevrin stood there, a tight smile on his face and his arms casually folded behind his back. He respected the leader, yes, but right now didn't seem like a time to be stiff and stoic. He listened to Tenko speak to the crowd briefly before they lit up in approval. Upon hearing Atra's comment, he didn't plan on responding, mostly because his mind was kind of tuned into the speech (he liked speeches, for more or less obvious reasons), and secondly because there wasn't much to say. No matter how much it seemed to offend Lorelai, he had the feeling Atra's comment was at least partly true. The majority of them don't know what work goes into making the Fortress run the way it should. What it takes to keep them, at least, somewhat comfortable. Then again, with all they do for the soldiers and other changers underneath Tenko, Farren, himself, even, the least they could do was cheer for their leader when he made a speech.

That's what Sevrin would do.

And that's why he put on his best smile when their leader came back, relieved to have had his speech go over so well. Did they cheer out of obligation or a genuine like for their dear Tenko? It could be a mixed bunch, but it didn't matter. With that pack possibly planning a move, any Army soldiers who didn't particularly like Tenko could also try something with all the confusion.

"Mhmm, it went very well, sir," Sevrin nodded approvingly. At least Tenko got up and made a speech. Didn't falter or stutter. God, being who he was, he hated when changers did either of those.

Just after saying that, he heard the sound of someone speaking again - loud enough to address a crowd - and then start clapping. Who was idiotic enough to do that? Sevrin didn't want to think about that. Surely, someone would deal with him. Maybe not right now, though. It was a good enough distraction for someone to spot some pack members hanging around.

Or maybe hurl something at the speaker's head from a high distance. Sevrin wanted to go up to the railing and see who it was, but a very familiar voice turned his head in the other direction. So his one-eyed friend had made it to the party after all. His face turned into a grin as he walked over to the second interrogator and looked him over. He didn't look like he had been busy, he looked tired. He'd ask him later. "Morning, Kuril," Sevrin gave him a quick nod, then looked around him. "Glad you could make it, though, you should really work on your timing. You missed a brilliant speech from Tenko." Most would probably realize his teasing words towards the end, but he couldn't help but make a joke amidst the many distractions and less-than-serious behaviors. Like an unconscious thing. He glanced at Lorelai for a split second.

He was still waiting for that clapping to cease. Now that he remembered it, it kind of annoyed him.

After the crowd quieted down, Tenko heard a singular person still clapping after his speech. The possibility of a rebel boldly taking such an action in public was unlikely at best, but still possible. He considered stepping back up the ladder when the individual started speaking, but instead asked about the speaker's identity a sentry that was currently in charge of overlooking the crowd.

"Sir, the identity of the individual remains known, but he did leap down from one of the vantage points where we typically station a lookout. I'd rather not think it to be true, but it's possible he's one of us, sir."

"You have my gratitude, soldier.", replied Tenko curtly. The tone of voice combined with the actual dialogue was at the very least insulting. He was almost sure of the fact that it was a rebel trying to incite discontent in the crowd. Grinding his teeth, Tenko ascended a few steps so that he was able to see a majority of the crowd. And the individual that was clapping. His eyes narrowed in displeasure behind his sunglasses. He knew the man. And as unfortunate as it was, he was indeed part of the Army. A subordinate of Liron's if he remembered correctly. He waved the same sentry over again.

"Sir?", came the woman's reply along with a salute.

"When the Spymaster returns from his mission, give him this message: Get that moron in line or he goes to the ring. Against me. And there will be no mercy in that." Tenko's tone was as cold as a glacier.

"Y-yes, sir!" The woman was slightly distressed at the menacing aura surrounding Tenko, but returned to her post.

Tenko was about to leave the stairs again when a terrified scream split the air. And then a terrifying roar. Wasting no time, Tenko leaped up the last few steps just in time to see the crowd scatter before a massive thing. It's very appearance made his stomach clench as his body wrestled with the decision to fight or flee. Barely a second passed before the monster charged the crowd, slaughtering those misfortunate enough to have been in its way. It's last victim, who was most assuredly dead, was the beast's midday meal. The sight nearly made Tenko sick. Attracting the attention of the other soldiers in the area, he issued the thought that was undoubtedly on all of their minds.

"Soldiers! Destroy that abomination before it hunts down more civilians! Now!"

Kora Neverwinter - The Fortress

Kora leaned against one of the supports, folding her arms and regarding the rest of the leader's inner circle. Apparently no-one was going to acknowledge her.
"Nope. Don't strain yourselves or anything. I'll just stand here and talk to myself shall I? Hey there Kora, what're you doing running late? Oh well I managed to catch a lizard today. Wow, a lizard? That's pretty impressiv-" she was interrupted by the carnage that erupted down in the crowd. Some variety of large, nasty mutant that was tearing one individual to shreds.

Before she'd even fully registered, she'd begun to change, her outfit tearing and shredding along the joints as her chest cavity and shoulders expanded, and thick fur burst out of the pores of her skin.

Moments later, the huge canid leapt down and broke into a charge in the direction of the animal, barreling towards it at a charge before leaping upwards to latch her teeth into the beast's jugular. Normally she might have dragged it out a little longer, maybe taken the opportunity to showboat, but it was a bit of an emergency, and everyone was watching. It wasn't time for messing around, though it had never really entered her mind that the beat might prove to be anything of a challenge....then again it never did. The concept of danger didn't really seem to be something that Kora was familiar with, and she simply dived into any sort of combat situation, regardless of the opponent.

She endeavored to lock her jaw around the thing's throat, and remain there, hoping to sever a major blood vessel. It seemed like the best way to go for a kill, and put her head out of reach of the thing's jaws, which was always a plus.


Caddie Hallow - The Fortress

The dove on the wire had managed, very much to fade into the background, something she was rather pleased about. Apparently the assembled Skinwalkers that made up this group weren't really on the lookout for spies.

Things started to go wrong however when some of the pack showed up in the crowd. Why hadn't she heard anything about this? No-one had told her that anyone else was going to be there... The dove shifted from foot to foot, confused by the turn of events.

This got even worse however when the beast arrived, and she looked up in time to see one of the pack members getting torn to shreds by the mutant. The pigeon set out a panicked shriek of a noise and fluttered from its perch, flapping its ragged looking wings in shock, sending out a small flurry of loose feathers. It was, unfortunately, a very un-dovelike reaction to the situation, but it was hard to retain her composure considering.

Hiibel Talcen; The Fortress

Momentous applause, screams of excitement, roars of encouragement! What should follow any outstanding performance, no matter the kind! And which Hiibel did not receive. Sure, he got applause - from himself, a few Murin, a few Aveis, a stray Raposa or Miao here or there. Not from any Lupus of course. No applause for a mere, lowly cat. How boring...

As his eyes scanned the crowd, he noticed a few latecomers. Mr. Whats-his-face Care, or whoever he was. With a bandaged hand from something, and not looking quite happy to be there. He kept glancing up at Tenko and scanning the crowd, moving closer and closer to the front. Suspicious much? If something needed to be done, Bell had confidence in his speed. His continued turning and taking in the crowd.

Ah, another latecomer. Mrs. Koi Something-or-other clapping overly enthusiastically with a wide smile plastered on her face. And also scanning the crowd. Too late to hear Tenko's speech, she must have heard the end of his and was searching for the speaker. She at least recognized at-least-better-than-average improvised speech and acknowledged it, better than most people. Hiibel grinned wider than before (if that was even possible) and nodded his head in her direction before turning around (had there been a change in expression in that instant?) to continue his sweep of the crowd. And the minimal applause...

As he finished to take in the platform up above, he continued clapping and glanced up again for their reactions. Liron and Tenko glaring at him. Now this would be fun. A few others also seemed mad, while others were amused. But it didn't seem like anyone would stop him. And he was done anyway, so it was probably time to make an exit. How could he do it in such a way that it was grand-and-fit-for-his-performance and yet not so attention-grabbing that it detracted from the leader-that-they-were-here-to-worship?

Luckily for him, the reactions were not quite over! To conclude, there were the screams and roars he had been expecting in response! Finally! Well, now that he thought about it, they were pretty-much-too-delayed-to-be-focused-on-him, and they couldn't quite be attributed to, well, excitement or encouragement... Turning to face the newcomer-who-felt-important-enough-to-steal-his-applause, he was pretty surprised, as one might expect.

A mutant. A bear-like mutant. Mauling whomever was in its path: in this case Mr. Care... And then chaos broke loose, and it was getting too interesting for Hiibel's tastes... Backing up from the dining mutant, he watched the civilians flee for their lives as soldiers began to attack the beast. Well, Hiibel was not a fighter, and he was not going to let himself get killed by this monster. Once again, he scanned the crowd hurriedly, looking to see where people were fleeing, which places were open, where he would not be trampled. There was no time to spare. The noise from all around was deafening - shrieks, screams, roars, yells, complete chaos with a slight semblance of order imposed by Tenko, ordering soldiers to destroy it ASAP.

Mrs. Tenko projected her voice above the din, "Get the young and the elderly away." Yes, that he could help with, even in this chaos. There were a few passageways he knew of, not often used, that he could direct people to. And many people headed toward the same direction, not bothering about the other side passages.

"For goodness sakes, this is a city! Your city! Go different ways, different alleys! If you split up, more people can get out at the same time! Move quickly, but carefully! Let's move!" Lost in concern for others, all traces of amusement had vanished from Hiibel's face, now replaced by worry, fear. A flurry from above reminded him of what many others had apparently also forgotten. "Those who can fly, change and escape! Murin, change and hide in cracks where the mutant can't reach you! The rest of you, get on roofs if possible, and don't stop running until you're safe! Anyone who needs help, follow me!"

He turned and ran off to a side passageway, hidden from sight by rubble, ruins of a building. Directing those who followed into it, he glanced back toward the beast to see it was indeed being stalled by assailants: a Raposa, Lupus, and a few other soldiers. More were coming to take care of it, and the area around it was mostly cleared. Those trapped at the end of the mob fleeing the scene he beckoned over to the passageway, making sure he saved however many people he could. Once the last few were in, he led them through the winding passageway to a safer haven within the city, where they could wait until the mutant was dead or gone. And it would be dead, of course, right? There was an entire army against it, more than enough to take care of one beast.

And of course it would work out, of course they'd be safe, but what would be the price? Who would they lose? And would they be prepared when the next attack came?

Whatever that fool of a miao had been saying quickly grew unimportant when a monstrous roar rang through the city. It was far too familiar and too unwelcome a sound. Farren could smell the beast before he saw it – it held the rancid odor of blood and gore in its matted fur and on its breath. A vile creature. Before anyone could do anything, it was suddenly there, standing in the crowd. In mere moments, the blood rained upon the people of Aethes. The mutant devoured his recent kill. The citizens’ screams drowned out all other noise as they all thoughtlessly began to race away. Of all the things to add to a blistering hot day…

“Soldiers! Destroy that abomination before it hunts down more civilians! Now!” Tenko shouted. In the time of that lengthy statement, another changer had lost its life. Farren bit back a remark and immediately raced to the front lines and the soldiers nearby immediately worked into vague formation. Several people took charge of evacuation – Lorelai urging some of the soldiers to protect the children while that miao, Hiibel, tried to maintain a level of efficiency as the panicked rabble ran away. It was better this way. This way, Farren wouldn’t have to concern himself with matters of the crowd. That wasn’t quite his role after all.

“Don’t waste bullets,” Farren snapped, glowering at a soldier who’d retrieved one of the Army’s precious guns. “This is one of the lesser sort.” However, that did not mean they could be careless. With mutants, even the weakest of them were vicious and deadly. Now, in emergency circumstances he was supposed to decide with the Second Lieutenant, Kora , what would be the best course of action. However, it was almost always the same with her – she would mindlessly rush into the fray, as she did now, and attack the enemy with pointless brute force. The chances of her reaching that monster’s main vein were slim to none. As she sank her fangs into the mutant’s throat, Farren eyed the creature warily. All she had done was put herself in the mercy of the monster’s vicious claws.

The best shot they had was to incapacitate it… but how?

“Get it on all fours,” he ordered, “and then heavy lupus target its throat.” It would provide a better chance for Kora, or anyone else for that matter, to reach its vital points. It would also let the miaos and those with weaker animal forms reach the softer underbelly of the creature and aim for internal organs with whatever weapons they could scavange from around them. Farren, however, would be more use in his other form. Casting off the coat of his uniform, the First Lieutenant himself started forward. There was a temporary sensation of coolness, for the fabric of changing-fabric breathed far easier in the heat than that wretched uniform… but it was immediately replaced with sensations of discomfort.

He heard a dull snap from somewhere inside him, resounding through the bones and into his ears. He felt his knees lock for a moment before inverting, the knee caps snapping and refusing in a different manner. His spine seemed to break to pieces as it stretched to accommodate a new tail. The pain distracted him for a moment as his vision blurred, but it as he settled into his canine form, his eyes cleared. The pain, he could ignore – this seemed so long a time to him, but it took a mere two seconds. Without stopping since his transformation, he was soon in front of the mutant, focused intently on just what that fool of a lieutenant planned to do.