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Post by Mojin Hood on Oct 23, 2022 0:37:20 GMT
“‘Overreact’—!!” Liana blustered furiously. “You think I’m overreacting when someone who I thought was my friend attacks me and accuses me of being a traitor and tries to smash me?!”
“Hey, you’re the one who had your hands around my neck choking the life out of me!” Cole protested.
“Yeah, because you—!” Her sentence ended in a furious sputter. Liana was so angry, she was looking at the door instead of Cole. “You know what—?” She waved her arms in the air in exasperation. “You’re so thick-headed, you wouldn’t know the truth if it sat up and bit you! That’s fine!” She stormed out of the room. “Just stay away from me, or else I just may show you who would have won that fight!”
“Yeah?!” Cole called back, gritting his teeth angrily. “You just stay away from me, then!”
“Fine!” She called from the hall.
“Fine!” He called back.
“Fine!” She shouted back.
“FINE!!” He shouted as he waved his arms wildly.
* * *
“FINALLY, some food!” Little Leaf exclaimed happily.
Lloyd stared at the body of a little brown rodent lying on the grass in front of her. “That’s disgusting.”
The young werecat looked at him in surprise. “‘Disgusting’?” She repeated incredulously. “What are you talking about? This is a healthy, freshly-smashed mouse! What do you humans eat?”
“Fruits. Veggies.” Lloyd edged away from the body. “Cooked meat. Stuff like that.”
The two of them were taking a brief respite from traveling in the midst of the woods. It was late afternoon in the vast forest, and the red light of the setting sun filtered through the green canopy of leaves, casting warm rays here and there. Despite walking all day and making what Little Leaf said was steady progress, Lloyd felt as if they weren’t getting anywhere at all. The forest stretched out in all directions endlessly, save for the mountains sitting distantly on the eastern horizon. His young guide insisted that she was sure that there was a human village to the north, and Lloyd found he could do nothing but follow her in blind faith.
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Post by Mojin Hood on Oct 23, 2022 1:19:06 GMT
Closer inspection of these strangers revealed that they carried rifles, hand guns, katanas, butterfly swords, and sai. Lloyd didn’t like how the men slouched around, cast suspicious glances at one another, and talked and laughed loudly, cursing and spitting at the sand. They wore old, weather-beaten clothing made for traveling, with long coats, wide leather belts adorned with weapons, riding boots, ratty rice farmer hats, and bandanas around their necks. Many of the strangers bore hideous scars across their faces or arms, and Lloyd could only guess at how many more such marks they bore beneath their dirty, stinking clothing.
Then it finally dawned on him. “Little Leaf,” Lloyd muttered urgently. “These are bandits! We need to get out of here before—!”
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?” A deep, masculine voice drawled from behind. Lloyd whipped around to see four mountain bandits standing just a few feet away from himself and Little Leaf. The one who spoke—a huge, overweight, bald man wearing a sweat-stained orange rice farmer’s hat—thumbed his leather belt strapped around his wide waist and sneered, revealing dark yellow teeth. “Lookie, lookie, we found a couple of potential customers! How much yen you’ve got on you, lad?”
“Oh, I don’t have anything on me.” Lloyd took a step back, only to realize the edge of the cliff was right behind him. Casting the gorge a wary glance, he said. “Sorry to disappoint, fellas.”
“Aw, that too bad.” Mr. Baldie feigned disappointment and cast his pig-eyed, greedy gaze to Little Leaf. “How ‘bout you, love? Got a couple of coins on ya?”
Little Leaf, blue eyes wide, stepped closer to Lloyd and bared her teeth in a feral snarl. “Make like a tree and leave, fox-breath!”
“Ooooh!” Baldie and his homies shared a sardonic laugh. “Feisty! Well, that’s all right, miss, we can still probably make a few bucks off of you two.” He licked his sweaty lips greedily and looked at Little Leaf’s lithe form. “They pay good money for young, healthy slaves down south, y’know, and some could say that’s our spicity.”
“'Speciality'.” One of the others muttered.
“Whatever.”
Well, I mean, not confirmed that it's the same dudes but still. 
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Oct 27, 2022 16:16:15 GMT
Post by Mojin Hood on Oct 27, 2022 16:16:15 GMT
Matilda glanced back at Cole with a smirk. “What, you don’t like that story?”
Cole scowled back crossly. “That was years ago. We don’t need to bring up ancient history.”
“Heh.” Matilda turned back to Wu. “Did he ever tell you lot about the time we drank a—?”
“MATILDA!”
* * * *snip*  
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Oct 27, 2022 16:45:56 GMT
Post by Mojin Hood on Oct 27, 2022 16:45:56 GMT
“That doesn’t mean you can’t make peace with your friend now.” Said Zane. “The longer you put it off, the harder it will be to mend your friendship.”
A much longer moment of silence followed. Liana was tempted to sit up and unleash her vicious tongue on Cole, but she kept her quiet, wondering what he would say next.
Then the blankets rustled and Cole’s voice sounded. “I’m going to bed now. Good night.” She heard him bury himself in the blankets.
Zane didn’t say anything as he sat there a moment longer, then followed suit. Silence enveloped the night, save for the chirp of crickets from the surrounding pine trees and an owl’s screech in the distance.
Liana buried her head in her pillow and let her bitter, angry heart smolder before settling to a low, depressed feeling. She didn’t want to think about Cole, who slept but a few feet away from her. She wished that sleep would claim her quickly, and by and by her eyelids slowly grew heavier. She sank in the blankets and closed her eyes—it made no difference to the dark she lived in, it was just nature to shut one’s eyes to sleep.
She was just dozing off when she became aware of vibrations in the ground. She shifted and listened to the night, and she heard the soft padding of footsteps coming from the forest and toward the campsite. She held her breath and strained her ears to hear more clues to the stranger. The person—by the weight of the footsteps, it sounded like an adult—drifted by the slumbering travelers silently, each step so smooth and soft that even Liana had to concentrate to hear them.
The footsteps stopped around where Nya slept. Liana wondered if she should wake up the others. Then a voice broke the stillness of night.
“Sleep well, Sons and Daughters,” Eagle Talon’s purr sent a cold chill down Liana’s spine. “Keep looking behind you, keep listening—because one day Black Blood will find you, and you will be crow’s food.”
* * *
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Post by LordTigress on Nov 6, 2022 7:11:19 GMT
Whaaaa asdfghjkl x/D You're much too kind.., thank you ^//^  Oh, well I can be meaner if you want (This is a joke because I don't want to be meaner pleasedon'tsayyouwantthis). XD You're welcome ^-^
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Post by LordTigress on Nov 6, 2022 7:12:48 GMT
Yesss, it's so weirdly fun  It's like you get to pretend to be on the writing team for something you like, and you're helping by coming up with good plot ideas
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Post by LordTigress on Nov 6, 2022 7:13:53 GMT
“‘Overreact’—!!” Liana blustered furiously. “You think I’m overreacting when someone who I thought was my friend attacks me and accuses me of being a traitor and tries to smash me?!”
“Hey, you’re the one who had your hands around my neck choking the life out of me!” Cole protested.
“Yeah, because you—!” Her sentence ended in a furious sputter. Liana was so angry, she was looking at the door instead of Cole. “You know what—?” She waved her arms in the air in exasperation. “You’re so thick-headed, you wouldn’t know the truth if it sat up and bit you! That’s fine!” She stormed out of the room. “Just stay away from me, or else I just may show you who would have won that fight!”
“Yeah?!” Cole called back, gritting his teeth angrily. “You just stay away from me, then!”
“Fine!” She called from the hall.
“Fine!” He called back.
“Fine!” She shouted back.
“FINE!!” He shouted as he waved his arms wildly.
* * *
“FINALLY, some food!” Little Leaf exclaimed happily.
Lloyd stared at the body of a little brown rodent lying on the grass in front of her. “That’s disgusting.”
The young werecat looked at him in surprise. “‘Disgusting’?” She repeated incredulously. “What are you talking about? This is a healthy, freshly-smashed mouse! What do you humans eat?”
“Fruits. Veggies.” Lloyd edged away from the body. “Cooked meat. Stuff like that.”
The two of them were taking a brief respite from traveling in the midst of the woods. It was late afternoon in the vast forest, and the red light of the setting sun filtered through the green canopy of leaves, casting warm rays here and there. Despite walking all day and making what Little Leaf said was steady progress, Lloyd felt as if they weren’t getting anywhere at all. The forest stretched out in all directions endlessly, save for the mountains sitting distantly on the eastern horizon. His young guide insisted that she was sure that there was a human village to the north, and Lloyd found he could do nothing but follow her in blind faith. finally someone noticed thank you thank you U/w/U
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Post by LordTigress on Nov 6, 2022 7:16:23 GMT
Matilda glanced back at Cole with a smirk. “What, you don’t like that story?”
Cole scowled back crossly. “That was years ago. We don’t need to bring up ancient history.”
“Heh.” Matilda turned back to Wu. “Did he ever tell you lot about the time we drank a—?”
“MATILDA!”
* * * *snip*  
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Post by Mojin Hood on Nov 7, 2022 15:28:51 GMT
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Post by Mojin Hood on Nov 7, 2022 15:32:49 GMT
Filling in downtime and expanding the lore is weirdly fun I hadn't thought of that, but you're totally right. Ack, such a nice feeling!
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Post by Mojin Hood on Nov 7, 2022 15:36:18 GMT
@bold: *chef's kiss* What a smooth scene transition. finally someone noticed thank you thank you U/w/U
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Post by Mojin Hood on Nov 7, 2022 15:42:23 GMT
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Post by Mojin Hood on Nov 8, 2022 16:48:44 GMT
Cole kicked a pebble and watched it fall over the side of the cliff he stood on. It tumbled hundreds of feet down the dark abyss below, where a wild, overflowing river churned and roared along the weaving path of stone. He caught sight of a white splash the size of an ant created by the pebble he kicked before it disappeared among the swift, white-capped waves.
“Is there a way to get down?” He asked, still eyeing the rapids.
“Yeah. Falling.” Eagle Talon muttered beside him.
The harsh downpour had eased a little by what Cole could only guess was late afternoon, but not by much. Soaked, shivering, sore, and utterly exhausted, the group of travelers found themselves standing on the edge of gorge with no visible means of crossing. The gap was much too far for a man to jump, and much, much further down below, so that swimming across was out of the question, even if the flooded river hadn’t been churning and racing at a dangerous pace.
Nya peered over the cliffside and frowned. “Are you sure this is the right way?”
Eagle Talon gestured with one bare, muscled arm across the wide gorge and at one of the mountains towering in the distance. “That mountain looks over Gooseneck Lake and ends at the shore. There’s no quicker way.”
“Maybe we could use Airjitzu to cross over.” Nya suggested.
“In case you’ve forgotten, Nya,” Zane said as his electronic, ice-blue eyes scanned the valley. “Four of us here have not learned the art of Airjitzu, and it would very risky to attempt to carry Wu, Matilda, Liana, and Eagle Talon across this gorge, even if Matilda and Eagle Talon transformed into their feral cat forms to ease the weight.”
“What if you formed an ice-bridge or something, then?” Cole suggested. “You could do that.”
“I could,” Zane replied. “But this downpour would make crossing whatever ice-structure I created dangerously slippery, and some of us would have a harder time than others crossing it without falling.” At this he glanced uneasily at Liana.
“I may be blind, but I’m not deaf!” Liana snapped.
@bold pfft, Liana, he was talking about Sensei Wu, obviously ![[derp]](http://storage.proboards.com/6672327/images/YqNTPqyQUocVMYXZgUAI.png)
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Post by LordTigress on Jan 2, 2023 8:14:59 GMT
finally someone noticed thank you thank you U/w/U
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Post by LordTigress on Jan 2, 2023 8:16:12 GMT
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Oh, well I can be meaner if you want (This is a joke because I don't want to be meaner pleasedon'tsayyouwantthis). XD You're welcome ^-^
It's like you get to pretend to be on the writing team for something you like, and you're helping by coming up with good plot ideas 
It's like you get to pretend to be on the writing team for something you like, and you're helping by coming up with good plot ideas