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| Backed Into a Corner; OTA | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mon Feb 25, 2013 6:37 pm (222 Views) | |
| Lady Eko | Mon Feb 25, 2013 6:37 pm Post #1 |
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Balefire often got a bad reputation -- people thought it was a terribly violent place. On the other hand, the emphasis on personal worth and personal gain meant that citizens cared a lot about personal safety, too. Everyone carried a weapon not because brawls constantly erupted in the streets, but because they wanted to both defend themselves and make themselves not look weak to those who might want to prey on such people. The culture of Balefire had a very strong sense of personal privacy. Everyone more or less kept to themselves. Subcultures didn't even intermingle, much less blend. Unless, of course, people were suddenly forced to face each other. Such as when, on the occasion, a person would get thrown out of a glass window and into the street during the culmination of some sort of indoor brawl. Voices in tandem shouted, "On three! One, two, three!" Eko was a blur of cloth shooting across the street. She hit the ground rolling, which hurt even more thanks to the shards of glass punching into her bony body on impact. The pedestrians around her parted, many of them genuinely surprised at the sudden outburst of violence. A few got nervous enough to draw their weapons, looking around for the perpetrator. The big black dog waiting outside the building rushed to Eko's side, nudging her with its nose to help her get up even faster. She lowered her arms from her eyes, glad none of the glass had gotten into them, and staggered to her feet to face the teen-aged gentlemen exiting the small shop out of which she'd been thrown. "Man, I've always wanted to do tha--" One of the boys' laughing voices was cut off when Eko launched herself at him, reverse-gripped knife in hand. He blocked her slashing haymaker and tried to twist her arm out of its socket. The black dog Ansha leaped at the others before they could join. With her free hand Eko drew a wooden stake from the folds in her clothing and stabbed it into the boy's thigh, which let her break away from his grip. He stumbled back. Ansha's tackle made both dog and boy crash into the wooden wall of the building. In one of the poorer market areas like this one, all the buildings weren't exactly built to code. Not only did Ansha's weight tear a hole in the wall, it made the whole roof list and the building groan as though it was about to collapse. "Ansha, come!" Eko darted back into the middle of the street, pushing shoppers aside and getting cursed at. The dog backed out of the hole in the wall and padded up to her. She put her knife away and removed a coiled bullwhip from her hip. The weapon looked a lot nicer than her own status -- more like something stolen off a bounty hunter or Sheriff. A couple people scrambled from out the back door of the small shop a few seconds before it partially collapsed, about a quarter of its shoddy construction crumbling to the ground. Eko breathed fast, not paying attention to her bloody body or the bruises and pain, just watching her big brother and his friends angrily claw their way out from under some planks of wood and pieces of corrugated metal roofing. Small bits of glass and debris had been scattered all over the street as a result of the property-destroying fight. |
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| WolfheadMGJ | Tue Feb 26, 2013 5:40 pm Post #2 |
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She shoved him to the side as she passed, her canine friend following close behind as they made their way to the middle of the street. Mizu started to growl, but Ulfr placed a hand on his head and smiled at the jackal, who in turn grinned back with his inherent talent for mimicking. Chuckling and shaking his head, Ulfr watched the three boys scramble to get back to their feet. What had the girl done to neccesitate such aggresive behavior from them, or were they simply being bullies, now pissed that their prey had retaliated. The lycan scratched his chin and observed the girl. She had to remarkably tough, having been thrown out a window and recovering quick enough to attack one of the boys, and now standing where she was, glass pieces embedded in her skin no doubt from the blood he was smelling off of her. Having replaced her dagger for a rather nicely crafted whip, Ulfr smiled at the young female's courage or stubborness, though he assumed it to be a combination of both. The lycan his rubbed bare hands together, his guantlets safely tucked away in his bag. His other weapons were visibly apparent however, other than his hands. No one hardly ever expected the hands, as many weapons he carried so easily seen on his person. Shifting his gaze to eye the massive black dog beside her, Ulfr had to marvel at the boys' either bravery or stupidity, depending on the situation. She was a large and fearsome creature, bearing a natural power someone like Ulfr could respect. The muscle that bulged from her was impressive, and Ulfr thought the canine to be a magnificent creature. Looking to Mizu, Ulfr felt the jackal felt the same, though perhaps for different reasons. As the boys were beginning to get out from under the debris, Ulfr weighed what little he knew of the situation. The girl had been thrown out a window, and one of the males had begun to comment having always wanted to do that before she struck out at them. The girl perhaps would have continued running were not for how crowded the street had become since the commotion began. Other bystanders had cleared away from them, but Ulfr dashed from the crowd and purposefully placed himself between the now charging young males and the female and her dog. "Mind telling me why you threw her out a window?" he calmly asked, though his golden brown eyes stared daggers at them, daring them to attack. |
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| Lady Eko | Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:47 pm Post #3 |
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Still breathing hard, Eko wiped some blood dribbling down her forehead using the heel of her wrist. The intervention of the outsider man had given her a chance to catch her breath, but adrenaline still shot through her veins. Ansha tried to lick the blood off her cloth-wrapped hand in an attempt to clean her up, but she moved it away as there were probably still some small shards of glass in her skin. The man was accompanied by a jackal, and while Ansha was usually curious about other animals the dog was too worried about Eko to think about it right now. The boys looked him up and down, clearly not happy about his interruption. One of them, a handsome dark-skinned man, came out of the wreckage and entered the forefront of the group. He was clearly the "leader," if his confident grin and relatively nice-looking (for a local) attire was anything to go by. Eko's brother Dian first leaned over and grinned at Eko, then turned his attention to Ulfr. "How about you stick your nose in someone else's business, idiot?" His hand rested easily on a shortsword strapped to his hip. His friends, while a bit worse for wear, cracked their knuckles and formed a rough semicircle around the outsider. The one that Eko had stabbed in the thigh limped up from behind, ripping the stake out and tying a shirt around it to stem the bleeding. While he wouldn't participate in the posturing that was going on, the other three -- Dian and his two healthier friends that survived the collapse of the building -- would continue. Eko came up almost next to the outsider. "I'm going to tell Mom and Dad and our grandparents that you're starting a gang. They'll kick you out of the family, Dian." Dian threw his head up and laughed almost exaggeratedly. "Me, starting a gang?! Talk about the pot calling the kettle black! I know what you're up to, Eko. I know about Mohdu's Inn and Tavern." The girl glanced sidelong at the man and his jackal that were trying to interfere. "You should leave. They might attack you. They're that kind of people." "As for why we threw her out of a window," Dian continued, rocking on his heels, "well, she asked for it. Also she's the perfect size, don't you think?" His near-black eyes fell on her diminutive stature and he chuckled. |
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| WolfheadMGJ | Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:21 pm Post #4 |
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He's her brother huh? A bit cocky if you ask me. Ulfr eyes fell on the girl now standing next to him as she gave him a warning. Chuckling, Ulfr responded loud enough for the Dian and his apparent lackies to hear, "Eko, right? I'll take my chances," and flashed his wolfish grin to her. Returning his gaze to the boys, he responded to Dian's jibe about her size. "Maybe, but looks can be very deceiving; and you're the idiot if you think you can scare me with that shortsword." Ulfr began to walk towards them, aware that he'd have to fight them or let them have their way, which was out of the question. Turning his head and addressing his own canine companion, "Mizu, stay with Eko and, Ansha I believe it is?" before stepping even closer to Dian, now standing only seven feet from the arrogant punk. "Since there is three of you and one of me, let's make this fair; I won't use my hands or any of my weapons." With that, Ulfr removed his weapons and stuffed them in the bag on his right hip. When they were all put away, Ulfr gripped the upper arm of his left with his right behind his back and did the same with the other arm, so that his arms were crossed behind him. Smiling his wolfish grin in excitement, he spoke again and waited for them to react. "You're lucky you're her brother, otherwise I'd have been inclined to kill you." |
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| Lady Eko | Sat Mar 2, 2013 3:24 pm Post #5 |
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Eko stood back, wondering what this man's game was. She had had strangers interfere in her fights before, but that was just to yell at them to go away or shut up. Never had they actively stepped inbetween one of her ongoing fights and offered to fight them. She was so shocked that she couldn't even think of a way to try to persuade him against it. The painful stinging of her skin and the ache in her bones threatened to pull away the remainder of her attention anyway. Dian looked equally surprised, but it reflected in his face as kind of an 'are you kidding me?' sort of look. His friends exchanged nervous glances. The outsider was already incredibly tall, towering over all of them, and the fact he was even offering to just use his feet to fight them said a lot. Eko picked one of the larger glass shards out of her hip. She suspected this man might be some kind of foreign martial arts master with a code of honor and everything, like those old stories her dad used to tell her. Why he was interested in their petty conflict escaped her. Dian was quiet for a long moment. He looked like he really didn't want to do it. He glanced at her, and when he did, Eko flashed him a mockery of one of his own smug little grins. That was enough to motivate him. He ripped out his short sword. "Fine! Let's kick this outsider's ass!" One of his friends muttered to another, "You go first," and thumped him on the back. The boy steeled himself, unsheathing a poorly made bastard sword. Keeping his eyes on Ulfr's legs, he charged forward head-on, shouting. He came in with a horizontal slash to the outsider's right hip. As he did, Dian tried to slip behind Ulfr and slash at the backs of his legs. The third descended after a short delay, trying to stab him in the torso with a small dagger. |
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| WolfheadMGJ | Sat Mar 2, 2013 7:44 pm Post #6 |
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Their looks of disbelief amused the lycan greatly, and by their hesitancy he half expected them to just walk away. They stood there, staring at him for wait felt like an impossibly long minute until Dian glanced back at his sister. Whatever she did, Ulfr didn't see it, but it obviously got under Dian's skin because he drew his sword, declaring his little group's next action. Ulfr huffed, grinning ear to ear. Crouching quickly as if he were ducking, Ulfr sprung upwards as his powerful legs muscles executed a leap into the air at least twice that of a normal human, easily clearing the bastard sword wielding young man's head. Bringing his foot back, Ulfr kicked the boy full on in the face, hard. His nose was more than likely broke as blood spilled from his face. His feet had barely touched the ground when he kicked back at Dian's wrist, blocking the slash he had thrown at the back of his legs. A swift twist of his body and Ulfr kicked Dian in the chest, not intented to do damage as much as to push him away and to the edge of the crowd. Feet rushed towards him and Ulfr looked back, side-stepping the dagger and headbutting the third kid to push him away and kicked him in the stomach. Planting his foot on his chest, Ulfr pushed him back and he fell next to his friend with the bloody nose. Turning back to face Dian, Ulfr mocked him saying "Surely you can do better than that Dian; I mean what, do I have to close my eyes too?" now staring at the young man and waiting for his next attack, should it come. As soon as the little street brawl ended Ulfr intended to attend to Eko's injuries. |
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| Lady Eko | Sun Mar 3, 2013 5:56 pm Post #7 |
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The whole street went quiet. Eko's eyes widened. She knew this man was going to be skilled, but she couldn't imagine just how quickly he would defeat all three at once. Dian went stumbling back, hitting the edge of the curious crowd. They caught him and pushed him back into the fight. The pained groans of his friends finally pierced the silence. They pushed themselves up slowly at first, but when they met Ulfr's gaze again, they clambered to their feet and scattered in all different directions down the street, pushing people aside to get away. Humiliation, and its resulting fury, crept into Dian's face and he made no attempt to hide it. Eko watched him, reading his movements, taking one hand off the coil of her whip to allow the cordage to fall. His grip on his short sword tightened and he breathed heavily. While his eyes were focused on Ulfr, he didn't attack again. Instead, the human darted past the man that outclassed him and instead came at Eko herself. She stepped past Ansha and the jackal surrounding her, her whip snapping out with a tremendous crack. She pulled it back seamlessly, her free hand held instinctively in a guarding position, and weaved a lightning-fast wall of protection against her entire front and sides using the lash. Dian skidded to a stop, taking a hit to his forearm that drew blood. She pressed him back a few steps, as his reach wasn't nearly long enough to even get close to her lest he take the bite of that whip. Within a few seconds her big brother found himself stuck between the edge of her range and Ulfr himself. Panicking, his eyes shot between the two of them for a moment. He ducked below her final strike and went running. He didn't have to say anything for Eko to know this wouldn't be the last of him. The girl grabbed her whip and started to re-coil it. The crowd of spectators dissolved. Eko didn't approach the outsider; the best she could do was give him a look that didn't seem overtly hostile. While the help was appreciated, she still didn't know his motivations, and that made it difficult to trust him. "Thank you," was all she said at first. She stowed away her whip and started picking glass out of her skin. "Can I ask who you are?" |
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| WolfheadMGJ | Sat Mar 16, 2013 8:54 pm Post #8 |
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Ulfr had went into a crouch, his leg muscles bunched and ready to release the lycan into an impressive leap onto Dian, had Eko not beaten him to her brother. A flurry of swings with the whip she held and Dian was held off by a wall of sure to be sharp pain. Edging closer to the boy, Dian skirted under the whip's reach and fled. His pride undoubtedly hurt, Ulfr wondered if he had ultimately done more harm than good. Relaxing his arms, Ulfr approached Eko. Mizu came running up to meet Ulfr, tail wagging and unable to stand still from energy and excitement. Chuckling, Ulfr rubbed his head as Eko thanked him and asked of who he was. Scratching his head and smiling Ulfr responded "I'm Ulfr, Ulfr Bloodpelt; this is Mizu. You're Eko...?" Ulfr let her name trail, as a way to ask for her last name other than blantantly asking for; he felt it was more polite that way. "This is Ansha right?" Ulfr asked as he crouched and extended a hand for the dog to sniff, with Mizu moving forward to sniff Ansha. "So, that was your brother? What was his deal? I mean, they looked like they wanted to hurt you, perhaps even kill you. Oh, speaking of which, here let me help you with that," At that, Ulfr stood and began to heal the wounds Eko pulled glass out of, following behind her trail and healing her injuries. Edited by WolfheadMGJ, Mon Apr 15, 2013 11:16 pm.
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| Lady Eko | Sat Mar 23, 2013 3:53 pm Post #9 |
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"Yes. Eko. Just Eko." She also nodded at his confirmation of her dog's name, too. The man and his jackal seemed friendly; Ansha liked them, her tail wagging in big strokes. She sniffed Ulfr's hand, licked it once, and then went to sniffing after Mizu. Eko inherently had a more positive opinion of people who treated animals well than those who didn't. Both this and Ulfr's healing bolstered her opinion of the man, but she still had an inkling sense of suspicion in the back of her mind. He just seemed too... good-natured for it to not be an act or, at the very least, an act done with the expectation of reciprocation. He asked her about her brother as Eko picked out more pieces of glass. "Dian is a sore loser. I--... did something beneficial for the family recently, and he and his friends thought to put me in my place." Eko managed to get all the biggest and most painful pieces of glass out off her skin, which Ulfr healed right after. She wiped half-dried blood off her face in a half-hearted attempt to make herself look more presentable. The girl was both short, and while she wore many layers in an attempt to both keep herself warm and make herself look more bulky, it didn't work to hide her slight build. She still looked like she could be blown over by a stiff breeze, which stood in sharp contrast to Ulfr's towering height and stature. When all of that was done, Eko's eyes hardened up at the man. "Whatever it is you want in exchange for helping me, I can't give it. You helped me of your own accord, so I shouldn't be the one in debt to you. If that's not it, I can't even imagine what would motivate you to interfere like that." |
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| WolfheadMGJ | Mon Apr 15, 2013 11:34 pm Post #10 |
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Ulfr laughed as her demeanor hardened towards him. "You remind me of a desert fox i know; she too was immediately suspicious of me. And no, I don't expect you to repay me a debt. I helped you because I felt it was the right thing to do. It would have been different if they had been wolves hunting deer, outnumbering you like that. What they were doing was born of malice and spite." Tapping his chin as he thought, he laughed again saying "I sound like a priest or something." As Mizu continued sniffing Ansha and then Eko, then back to Ansha, Ulfr's stomach growled. Chuckling, Ulfr smiled and asked "Know where we can grab a bite to eat? I'll get the two of you something too in exchange for the tour," happily laughing again. Ulfr laughed easily, as if he hadn't a worry in the world on his shoulders, but that was far from the truth. The lycan hunted the demon Chaos, sought to extinguish an evil when he happened upon it, and protect those he valued as friends and those incapable of doing it themselves. His general jovially demeanor was a blessing that helped him keep his sanity, even if people might think him insane because of it. Ulfr quietly wondered if Eko would be able to tell what he really was. He was sure Ansha had already picked up on his scent, as she was a canine, but with all the creatures of the night that were prevalent in Balefire Ulfr was curious as to whether Eko could identify him in his human form. His was inclined to reveal that something was off; silver hair on a young man and eyes colored golden brown like that of a wolf weren't exactly common for humans. His height and size set him apart from the crowd as well, and a flash of his teeth would reveal a particularly sharp set of canine teeth for a human. |
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| Lady Eko | Sat Apr 20, 2013 2:48 pm Post #11 |
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He did sound like a priest, or what Eko assumed a priest would be like. Her clear suspicion softened into something more subtle. She didn't know a lot of people who would interfere just because it was the right thing to do. Eko liked to think that she herself was one of those kinds of people, but really -- if the people endangered were just foreigners or outsiders, she wouldn't even try unless it gave her some other benefit. "The Fleeting Moment is close. Never been, but should be good." Anything that was an actual restaurant or came from a market were good sources of food. Sometimes people set up dubious food stands where the meat wasn't cooked all the way through and the vegetables were scavenged. Pretty disgusting. The girl clucked her tongue, bringing Ansha back up to her side. She led the way to the restaurant with no more fanfare than that. She cut a more or less direct route through the convoluted twists and turns of Balefire's street level. The streets were crowded at this time of night, and they ended up snaking around wagons, horse-riders, and peddlers making claims about whatever products they were selling at the streetside booths. Every piece of space in western Balefire was used, and no real estate went to waste. If an alley was open, it would be full of drifters. If a bigger shop wall was free, someone would build a peddler's stall against it. The crowds just made it all a bit claustrophobic. Eko envied Ulfr, who was tall enough to see over everyone. She pointed at a signpost reading "The Fleeting Moment" in a Balefiren dialect of Common. Eko silently took the man up on his offer by entering the building. Pets were usually allowed indoors as long as they could behave themselves, but Ansha was so huge that she always made her stay outside. She needed to avoid one of those 'you break it, you bought it' situations. She intended to feed Ansha the scraps of her own meal. Inside, it smelled delicious; Eko felt her mouth watering almost immediately. Spits of meat on the fires wouldn't be useful for the vegetarian Eko, but perfect for Ansha. What really caught Eko's interest was the assortment of fruits and vegetables they had on display. The waif stared almost reverentially at a basket of nearly fresh oranges sitting near the cook's station. |
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| WolfheadMGJ | Sat Apr 20, 2013 8:40 pm Post #12 |
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It didn't take long to get to the place Eko suggested, but it seemed as if everyone and their brother was out and about tonight as they made their way to it. Every bit of space was being used tonight, and were it not for his height, he'd pondered if he would have had a panic attack at the sheer amount of people and vendor stall's. Ulfr could only imagine what kind of an effect it was having on Eko. Walking in the door behind Eko, Ansha stayed to sit outside. "Mizu, keep Ansha some company will you?" Ulfr asked his four-legged companion, who obliged. While Eko was practically drooling, a waitor came by to seat them. He had a grisly scar across his face, going through his left eye which was grey; blind in it was Ulfr's assumption, but it could always be a trick. Regardless, some people didn't need eyesight to put a hurting on you, but Ulfr couldn't think of a reason as to why he would get into a tussle with guy. Sitting down, Ulfr reached into his bag on his hip and pulled out a small bag of gold coins; fighting bandits was a most profitable choice in work. Plopping it on the table loud enough for Eko to hear the coins within, Ulfr said "Order us what you want, under a few stipulations: I want meat, I don't drink alchol, and I'm not fond of spicy." and smirked at his new acquaintance. |
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8:19 AM Jul 11

