Borderline Elven Forests

An'xilii had found Krystal by the river. After seeing Rin waiting by the exit all by herself upon a bench, An'xilii had promptly ground her teeth together and turned on her heel to find the other girl. No way in hell was she going to be put in a situation where she had to be alone with the High Elf once more. That piece of sourtart could definitely wait--the mage was far more manageable. After having shifted her hands behind her head once more, she had kicked one of her creatures in a bored manner to locate the cloaked girl. Her inventions complied and she followed the supposedly levitating bag of food up until her skeletons had tottered, one of them pointing a thin arm towards the river.

Laying her eyes upon Krystal, An'xilii released something of a sigh as she walked down the hill, sliding her hands from their position to her back pockets. Her right eye was closed as usual and her left half-lidded, a clear indication of boredom. "Oi, being a retard and sitting around all aimlessly isn't going to do us anything." She said in a breezy voice, though the casualness of the tone combined with her words produced a rather offensive result. She was sure she caught the faint glimmer of a glare from Krystal, but then again, the girl's face never changed so it was hard to tell. Shrugging, the Dark Elf yawned and gestured over towards her pets. "I already got the provisions, you're the only reason there's hold up."

Without even waiting for a reply, she grabbed Krystal by her arm firmly and pulled the girl up. Her grip was tight as she led the other through the village. Normally, An'xilii would've been a degree less rough with someone but she was annoyed and rather bored at the moment. She didn't appreciate the fact that Rin turned to her for directions nor that Krystal seemed to be moping around like a useless sack of air. The woman disliked having to be involved in the affairs of others but given the events, she did not think there would've been a choice in the matter. The mage definitely had some sort of dark magicks within her and An'xilii was admittedly still curious as to the affiliation with the dark gods. Tch. Putting up with that haughty High Elf was going to be irritating.

A small sense of satisfaction from the fact that the fool did not know the world outside her forest. A rather devious smirk came upon An'xilii's face. Oh, how she was going to have such fun toying with this knowledge~

They came upon the exit, Rin still waiting on the bench. The Dark Elf made a show out of detaching her grip from Krystal's arm veeeeeery slowly. Lesbians always got riled up when someone else was touching their partner. Oh wait, that was all couples. Whatever, screw semantics. She whistled to her pets, who came tottering after her loyally and stopped, bag atop their shoulders, next to her legs. "I see someone was making it a point to nap. Kid time's over--I'll have a better estimate of where we are once we're out of the forest so I'd say our first priority would be to leave."

'And the sooner we're there, the sooner I'll be shot of you two and your bullshit.' She finished silently. Hey, she was curious but that didn't mean she had to like her company. Sweeping her long, wild locks of silvery hair over her shoulders, she began to head towards the exit, not even paying attention to if the other two were following her. If they wanted to survive, they would. She had, after all, taken all the food.

Rin laid on the bench at the exit of the village waiting for An'xilii and Krystal. This would be her first time out of the forest, she didn't know what to expect, but she knew one thing for sure she wasn't going to like following An'xilii lead but if she wanted to make it anywhere she would have to learn too deal with it. For a moment Rin thought she had saw An'xilii but it must had just been a figment of her imagination.

Who knows how long they would be traveling for but Rin knew it would be for a while and she would need to sort out this whole dark magic business with Krystal. Rin also knew she would have to learn to tolerate An'xilii antics for the time being. But it was going to be a nice experience to travel and with a group of all things. For so long Rin had traveled around the forest by herself not really involving herself with anyone every once in a while she would spend a few days in different villages but that was it. Rin opened her eyes and sat up still no sight of An'xilii and Krystal though she was sure they wouldn't have left without her anyway's. Just to make sure she was ready Rin looked through her bag quickly. Everything she needed was their pretty much water extra clothes medical supplies the only thing missing was food and no doubt it was An'xilii work.

Rin looked around and still didn't see An'xilii or Krystal so Rin closed her eyes again ready to go back to napping. But right before she could get comfortable Rin heard footsteps in the distance. Heading her way was Krystal and An'xilii who looked ready to go. "I see someone was making it a point to nap. Kid time's over--I'll have a better estimate of where we are once we're out of the forest so I'd say our first priority would be to leave." An'xilii took no time at all to make her way to the exit not even looking back to see if Krystal and Rin were following.

An'xilii muttered something under her breath causing Rin to roll her eyes like usual. Rin took a quick glance and looked over at Krystal, still trying to figure out a way to bring up the subject of what happened in the village so that it could all be cleared up and the awkwardness along with it. She wasn't to keen on the idea of getting led around by An'xilii but she had a feeling An'xilii knew what she was doing and it wasn't going to do her much good just wandering around aimlessly. "Just make sure you don't get us lost." Rin said to An'xilii with a little sass.

An'xilii had led them for a few miles, taking the walk at a controlled pace. It had been obvious to her after the first hour or so of the journey that neither Krystal nor Rin were accustomed to covering great distances in a short amount of time. The Dark Elf made no attempt to hide the annoyance that she felt and wrinkled her nose; though she did slow down the pace so that the other two would not be so out of breath. Really, were they that out of shape? Truth be told, she had thought there would be another reason entirely for the fatigue the other two were showing. (Though, a tumble in the hay never tired her out THAT much) With a flourish of her lime green scarf, she proceeded through the trees, effectively clearing a path for the other two girls.

Krystal had a rather uncomfortable look on her face, as if thinking about something mildly unpleasant. Rin was walking a bit away from the newly formed group, eyes shifted to the side. Both of them looked like someone had crammed them in a room with some extremely, offensive object or person. Oh wait, it dawned on her, a smirk forming on her features. Nevermind, she totally understood their hesitation. An'xilii had long since learned she was a difficult person to get along with. Well, served the brats right. She hadn't wanted to lead them anywhere but they had been too damn helpless on their own. And she sure as hell wasn't going to have this come back and bite her in the rump. If she left them alone and forsaken in the village, ugh, the two would find ways to butt into her life and cause her problems. Best to just put on a "sweet" smile and drop them off somewhere. Preferably a large city.

And she had just the place in mind.

Yawning faintly to herself, she swung her silver hair over her shoulders and trotted a bit of the way, glancing upwards at the sky. Dawn would be breaking soon, the night which she so adore would be ending soon. It would be best to travel until the latter part of the morning, during the day would be risky--what with those stupid, armored men pursuing them. She had a feeling that despite their ability to take out a small regiment of fanatics, that wouldn't be the last of them that they would see. If she knew humans (which she did, unfortunately, but at least with not as much regret as she felt towards knowing dwarves existed, fucking wastes of space), they always grouped against things they feared. And usually attempted to eliminate those things as quickly as possible. The insecurity was simply suffocating.

"C'mon, move those legs--I'd like to get us to that clearing," She commented, vaguely pointing off into the distance. It surely wasn't specific enough for them to register where it was exactly that she was talking about. But it would give An'xilii a chance to slip off unnoticed as they began to approach the area. She definitely needed time alone. The energy coming off the Liberated human was enough to make her on edge and she was pretty sure Rin could feel the conflicting aura's of darkness between the two females. It made for precarious traveling, to say the least.

Krystal was lagging behind and An'xilii turned, taking one of the pepper stems out of her pouch and throwing it at her so that it hit the mage upside her nose. "I said move--we've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it out of the woods by nightfall tomorrow." She said shortly, turning back around and clicking her tongue at her creatures to speed up their walk. (The little things had been quite leisurely, walking around as if there were sights to see) The bag bounced a bit as the pets trotted along, trailing behind their master. It occurred to her, faintly, that they hadn't stopped to eat or drink in at least three to four hours. Oops. Perhaps she should be more consider.... Fuck that.

They progressed unrelentingly for the next hour and had just about reached the clearing when one of her pets surprised her, the metal bits giving a snapping noise and the legs of it actually collapsed inwards as it went tumbling to the ground. She would've ignored it if not for the fact that the skeletal grins that her creatures wore looked haunted and now that she thought on it, they had been having a harder time catching up. Showing her inventions far more compassion than she did the actual living "weight" that was following her, the girl turned, hands on her hips.

"We'll stop here, for now. We're close enough to the campsite anyway and it won't do to have my babies breaking on us. One of you will have to get firewood, and the other will have to scout the surrounding area to make sure we're in the clear." Before the others could interrupt her (presumably about how she "got off" ordering them around when the Dark Elf wouldn't be doing anything), she quipped, "And for the record, I'll need to repair my pets to make sure they make the journey okay. And I s'ppose food wouldn't be a bad idea either..." She trailed off with a roll of her eyes. Selfishly, she had been snacking on her peppers the whole time and didn't really have much of an appetite. It occurred to her that she hadn't shared so perhaps the other two were hungry. Whatever, their fault for not speaking up until now and shooting her dirty, tired looks.

An'xilii plopped down on the ground, taking the broken bits of her pet and making coo-ing noises to it. "Shh, my darling, I'll have you fixed in no time." A warm tone alit in the woman's voice, though privately, she probably wasn't as aware of it as her traveling companions would be. Yawning, she turned the skeleton parts over in her hands as she took out a screw to fix the metal. When those two ran off to do whatever, that would be when she'd be able to separate herself. For now, she busied herself with the task at hand, mind swimming with thoughts.

Krystal was definitely not cut out for physical activities, but that wasn't what bothered her the most at the moment. Since they departed from the ransacked village, she hadn't been able to talk to her Dark side at all, much less feel it's presence lurking somewhere inside her. Even with intense focus, she couldn't detect a bit of her counterpart anywhere within. It was relieving that she didn't have to deal with it, but it was also worried her greatly. Though she had asked herself this before, she did so yet again. Just what was she doing this time?

Hey, I'm back, she heard in the back of her mind. Krystal frowned and looked to the ground beside her as the Dark presence was more prominent now. Back from WHERE? And what were you doing? Krystal thought harshly to herself, trying to get questions answered as quickly as possible. I'm not spilling any beans, though I can definitely say that we're all safe for now, the voice in her head stated. Krystal sighed, knowing that that was all the Dark Krystal would say on the matter. Her Dark side knew exactly what questions she was going to ask anyway, and would only reveal what she wanted to reveal at the time. Looking back in front of her, she noticed that she had been lagging behind while An'xilii had gone ahead. Krystal turned around to look at how far they've gone, and unknowingly dodged the pepper sent flying at her. It's been a long walk, and she was starting to get hungry. About an hour later, she decided to use a spell to suppress her fatigue, but was interrupted by the sound of one of An'xilii's creepy pet-things exploding. The sound was surprising, and would've given them away if there were any Fanatics around to hear it. Thankfully, it didn't seem like there were.

"We'll stop here, for now. We're close enough to the campsite anyway and it won't do to have my babies breaking on us. One of you will have to get firewood, and the other will have to scout the surrounding area to make sure we're in the clear. And for the record, I'll need to repair my pets to make sure they make the journey okay. And I s'ppose food wouldn't be a bad idea either..." An'xilii stated. Krystal gave a sigh and cast her spell, this time succeeding uninterrupted, and instantly felt wide awake. What did they need? Firewood? That seemed pointless, since the sun was going to rise soon and give away their position with the smoke. Rin would be able to see anything within five miles with her Elven ability to communicate with the trees around the group. Krystal also had a bit of food saved from the dinner, though it was not enough to suffice a full journey. She would need more for later, but for now it would do. An'xilii sat on the ground and got to work fixing her "pets" while Krystal leaned against a tree and got her food ready. Looking to Rin, Krystal thought for a moment.

"Uh, Rin... I have some food from the village I brought along if you want some." Krystal offered, not knowing whether or not Rin had brought food of her own. An'xilii had definitely made a show of being the most physically powerful of the group, and didn't think about whether the other two would be able to handle looking for berries that would only last a few hours. Soon they would breach the treeline, and soon enter the outside world of Halcya. She could only hope that the Fanatics haven't caused too much chaos across the continent.

An'xilii kept the group walking at a relatively fast pace. Rin had traveled around the forest a lot so walking for long distances wasn't to bad but it still was tiresome. Rin drifted towards the back of the group and shifted her eyes from the group to her left trying to avoid anyone's gaze. Still trying to come up with a way to bring up what happened back in the village to lift this awkward atmosphere within the group. But still the walk was in a way relaxing An'xilii had yet to get on Rin's nerves which was a plus but the down side was Rin could slowly feel them getting closer to edge of the forest. She could feel all the nature around her subside slowly as they approached the edge of the forest.

"C'mon, move those legs--I'd like to get us to that clearing," An'xilii said as she pointed off into the distance. It didn't help that An'xilii gave no details about the area she was pointing out. But what ever pleased An'xilii she was leading them even if Rin didn't like it she would just have to follow An'xilii for now at least. One thing was for sure Rin was starving they had walked a good way and her headache was coming back, back at the village Rin had used a spell to lower the pain of the headaches that were caused by being in such close proximity to so much darkness. Rin wasn't sure why but she could feel the dark aura's of An'xilii and Krystal conflicting with each other which was odd you would think they would be better together but who knows.

Krystal started to lag behind a little and out of no where An'xilii throws a pepper stem at her and hit Krystal right on the upside of her nose. "I said move--we've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it out of the woods by nightfall tomorrow." For about another hour they kept walking they were getting close to the clearing when Rin could hear what sounded like a snapping sound. "We'll stop here, for now. We're close enough to the campsite anyway and it won't do to have my babies breaking on us. One of you will have to get firewood, and the other will have to scout the surrounding area to make sure we're in the clear." "And for the record, I'll need to repair my pets to make sure they make the journey okay. And I suppose food wouldn't be a bad idea either..." An'xilii said to them. "A fire might be to dangerous since others in the distance could see it, I have a spell that would provide a small light that's all we really need, unless the fire is for us to cook our food oh wait you took all the food so it couldn't be that." Rin said with some sass.

An'xilii started talking to the creepy little metal thing. Rin still didn't get how An'xilii magic or what ever it was worked but if it kept them safe it was a plus in her book. "Uh, Rin... I have some food from the village I brought along if you want some." Krytstal said to Rin. It was still a little weird between them but Rin didn't want things to stay the way they were right now. "Um... Sure I guess, thank you for offering."

An'xilii looked up shortly from the attention she had previously been diverting to her pets at the lilting sassiness of Rin. That stupid, conceited High Elf certainly had a lot of nerve speaking back to her, considering the situation. The dark-skinned woman held her tongue in this event, for once not equipped with a snarky response on the tip of her tongue. Admittedly, there were times even An'xilii got tired of going back and forth so repeatedly. Times when she just didn't want to lash out at all. She had established this coldness out of necessity, because her life had demanded her to be stronger--but not necessarily because she had wanted to. She didn't allow these thoughts to flash upon her face, however.

With a frown and not so much as a word to what she was doing, the woman simply stood up from her position. The pet that had been in her lap went tumbling to the ground, but she had already fixed it's legs so it balanced itself when it fell, albeit somewhat wobbly. It's arms wriggled about, however, not having been fully repaired and the creature stumbled about in a heavily clumsy fashion. An'xilii ignored it; already, out of the corner of her eye, she could see those two lovebirds starting to make up. Why did it piss her off that they were communicating again? It really didn't matter to her. Really.

She turned on her heel, walking away from the campsite, if it could be called one, her fist clenched tightly. She needed air--she need space from the others. Her pets went to totter after her but she stopped them with a single, deadly glare over her shoulder. The mechanical skeletons froze in their tracks and instantly retreated back to the log she had been sitting on. An'xilii tossed her silver hair over her shoulder as she walked a bit further, perhaps if she got to higher ground she'd be able to see their coordinates better. Reminded of her experience some time earlier, she looked up at one of the taller trees, shrugging.

Nah, it'd definitely be different this time--she wouldn't be as stupid as she was before and loose her balance.

She grabbed one of the branches with ease, hoisting herself up with a twitch in her brow. Why was she upset? Why was she so damn annoyed? She was going to be shot of these buggers soon, well, as soon as she figured out where they were. So why was there a small sense of apprehension? She couldn't be feeling a shred of guilt about her plans, now could she? No, no way in fucking hell. Her lip curled in dislike, mind already beginning to turn distasteful both in thoughts and internal language. As she raised herself from branch to branch, the cool movements turn rhythmic and she ceased paying attention to the what she was grabbing. She just brought herself upwards and it wasn't long before she reached a suitable height, able to make out a decent amount of the forest.

She looked down, spotting the clearing where they had decided to stay for the time-being. She tilted her head to the side, flicking her eyes to another part of the forest. She could already see the faint borders, which meant they were further along than she had thought. Probably another day or two of traveling at most, then they'd be beyond the limits of the area. Though from beyond there, it was a bit difficult to say. She knew what city she was aiming for via map only, she personally had never been there in her wanderings. It didn't matter--she wouldn't need to know what the place looked like. She only needed to know where it was.

A whisper of wind against her cheek brought with it that prickly feeling--the same feeling she always got when--

"Taking some time to yourself, I see. Whatever do you bother for? What are you waiting for? She shuddered. It was beginning again, once more, that feeling, that voice, the voice of her abandoned God. She tried to tune it out the best she could, furrowing her brows. But that insistent feeling was still gnawing at her and she gripped one of the branches a bit harder, displeased.

"I was under the impression we had agreed not to speak," She said shortly, not even bothering to look around. The voice was like darkness, everywhere and nowhere at the same time. There would be little point in trying to look for the source. She heard an amused chuckle and cringed.

"You claimed we would not, I never agreed to such a proposition. Be that as it may, I'll leave you to your own devices. You'll call on me soon enough, as you always do." She angrily when to snap back at it but it was already too late. The presence vanished. An'xilii bit her lip. Gods above how she hated that stupid arrogant son of a--argh! Now in an even more sour mood than when she had started, she lost interest in trying to figure out her coordinates outside of the forest. He really knew how to take the fun out of everything, didn't he? And always spoke at the worst moments, right when she didn't need it the most.

Preparing herself, the woman began to lower herself to return to the campsite. The others were probably beginning to wonder where she had scampered off to and she really hated answering questions. As she landed on the ground, her mind was already formulating the story she would tell them. There was no way she could tell them the truth. At least, not all of it.

"Um... Sure I guess, thank you for offering." Rin said a bit awkwardly. Krystal split the small bag of bread and cranberries and gave the majority to Rin, knowing that she wouldn't eat as much as the High Elf. Her stomach argued with this decision, yelling at her that she needed to eat much more after that long walk, but Krystal pushed these thoughts aside as she ate her share in silence. An'xilii was still talking to her "pets" and didn't really seem hungry at all. She then stood, seeming a bit irritated about something, and went away from the campsite. Krystal looked in the direction in which An'xilii had left and saw the faint Dark aura surrounding An'xilii from behind a few trees. She watched as the aura began to rise up into the air and guessed that An'xilii was climbing a tree to look around. Krystal looked back down at her food, which she had already mostly eaten. She still felt hungry, but she could at least suppress the feeling with an illusion spell.

Krystal looked back up at the Dark aura to where An'xilii was, which was now holding still and probably near the top of a tree, then looked to Rin. The growing silence between them was beginning to press on Krystal, and she was sure now that Rin had seen her use her Dark magic back at the village. Krystal gave a sigh, knowing she would have to tell Rin about this sometime but not so soon. "Hey... I'm sure you already know but... I've been trying to hide the fact that I can use Dark magic, and I probably should've told you earlier..." Krystal was lost now. She'd never actually told anyone about this before, so how could she explain it? She looked down and to the side, unsure of what to say next. And how would Rin respond to this? "It's just hard to talk to others about it... A lot of people would hate me just for being who I am." Krystal explained, trying not to meet Rin's gaze. "I can only pray that you'll forgive me for not telling you sooner..." She said, falling into silence.

There was a distant laughing within her head, and Krystal scratched the back of her head and imagined grinding her Dark self into the ground with giant knifes, effectively silencing the mocking shadow within. She always had new ways of striking her down, and it always brought comfort to Krystal knowing that her Dark side had been slain for the ten thousandth time. However, the same comfort didn't sooth her this time. The feeling that she was being judged by someone as close to the Gods as Rin was crushing. Did An'xilii feel the same way as Krystal did now? An'xilii was probably over that feeling now after traveling for so many years. Krystal would just have to bear with herself and accept it, like An'xilii had.