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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/SixthMovement|Sixth Movement]]
| + | #REDIRECT [[ADanceOfAngels]] |
| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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| − | == Springs of Winter ==
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| − | '''Fiona: ''' It is a secluded mountain, somewhere between the Boil and Spire...
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| − | It is peaceful, a place that ignores the rest of the Kingdom's situation.... a place seen by few save from its spirits and small animals, now. Winds begin to act strangely, then... as mists of purples and reds and golds burst forth, spectacularly, as it is suddenly filled with people!
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| − | People who can feel the clear, clear air of the mountains now, on another stop before their destination.... and the one they will have to stop for much, much more. As their travel guide is covered in a golden glow, symbol of Twilight burning bright on her forehead...
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| − | "Right. This will do." She says, pretty much falling to sit down... looking up to see the late noon sun overhead. "If I do it one more time, I will be a lantern for them to see miles away from us when we arrive... what would be... bad."
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| − | A quick nod to herself, and she looks around... and all around them, in rocks and water and steam lies... paradise. How else can you call a place filled with so many hot springs, the hot water pacing slowly from one to another, steam filling the air not too far from where they stand..."So, we wait a few hours, alright?"
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Reins of the mighty black warhorse, Ice, in one gloved hand, Vorpal pushes her voluminous hood back from her face. She turns her head slowly, observing their surroundings with an arched eyebrow. "I'll admit", she says after a moment, "this isn't what I had expected. How far are we from Spire?"
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| − | '''Ice: ''' Ice snorts and raises her head. Nostrils flaring, she sniffs the air. Apparently, she likes what she smells, for her ears abruptly perk up and she tosses her white mane in what can only be described as a pleased manner.
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| − | '''Fiona: ''' "A little more than forty miles, I think. I have never been to the place, but I was close by with Kanti once, I am taking us there... and we will do enough walking from there as is..." She shrugs. "And I had been around here with the queen once... so I thought it would not be ''too'' bad..."
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| − | '''Ice: ''' Oh, it's not. Definitely, not. Just the right place for a noble warrior.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' The mists lift, and the interplay of Essence bound by the will of the Twilight leaves Opal dazed for the moment.
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| − | She places her hand on Ice, unknowingly, leaning a little on the animal as she tries to clear her vision. Eventually, she regains herself and removes her hand, and looks over the landscape, "It is very... prestine, yes."
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| − | She looks over at Fiona and smiles a bit, "Well, it is still impressive." She moves away from the group as she begins to mull around the area, picking up this rock or that one, as if studying the area.
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| − | '''Ice: ''' Ice is in a good mood, so the little hand on her flank is forgiven. For now.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "I could get to spire in about eight hours from here then. But I doubt the rest of us are quite that fast.", she glances around dispasionately. Nature was never really her thing. Well, unless 'nature' implied a certain Dragonblooded, but other than that; not really.
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| − | She glances to the side to see if Acelia is okay, and not like, puking her guts out from dizzyness.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Forty miles is nothing...or would be if I was alone." Selina says off-handedly, looking about at the surrounding terrain. The dizzyness didn't affect her much -- Windians take better to that sort of thing due to their natural ability at flight than most. "But we can stop here for a bit."
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' Acelia is on the ground, holding her head... which appears to be spinning quite a bit...
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| − | "... teleportation sucks."
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| − | '''Fiona: ''' "Hey, hey, my services are ''first class! ''"
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' She pats Acelia on the head a bit, crouching next to her. "You'll get used to it."
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "You're planning to take a bath?" Vorpal asks from the Dark Angel, idly.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "May as well." She opens the front of her greatcoat, then takes it off, folding the garment over one shoulder. "Nothing else to do here, and the last bath I had was with Moon, so it wasn't too much of a bath."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Is this really the time to be taking a bath?", she glances over from her place beside Acelia at the two deathknights.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "Ah, so that's what the smell was", the Pale Angel responds to Selina nonchalantly and sets to removing her gloves.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Dear, what else are we supposed to do for a few hours?" Selina asks pointedly.
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| − | "And I do not smell of unpleasant things, Pale Angel."
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' "Can I just not have to do this again, so I don't have to get used to it?" She asks, elbows on her knees and hands supporting her achy head...
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Strategize, nap to get our strength up before the battle, that sort of thing?"
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| − | Then to Acelia "Well maybe we can ride the Zephyr back to the Boil after we help out at the Spire."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She glanced over to the gleaming bulk of the warstrider that Fiona had brought over. Its head tucked between its legs and almost as if curled up into a ball, it was an off sight. She dropped a few of the pebbles she held and moved over toward it, making sure that it was obscured enough in its present possition and ready for her to attune to it, just before they left for their next jump.
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| − | She looks over at the grope, and nodded her agreement to Selina's statement, "I think we could all afford to relax a little bit."
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| − | '''Ice: '''Bah! What is the point in wasting time talking about meaningless things? A stout heart, firm legs and air to fill one's lungs are all a true warrior needs to best any foe in battle!
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "I don't take naps, and most planning is pointless until we see the situation." Selina replies loftily. Then she takes off one of her own long gloves, revealing the entirety of a pale arm criscrossed with paler scars. Not too many, but certainly more then one or two. In the light of day, the scars are much more obvious than they were last night in the dim and fitful light of that bedroom, to Vorpal. "I assume you will opt to stay out of the bath like you wanted to with the party."
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' She looks up... "Ride the... Zephyr?"
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Yeah, the Zephyr. You know, that huge Haslanti airship that Cael Pattona stole? That. We'll ride that.", she replies to Acelia, then to Selina, "Are you going to force me into it like you did with the party, then?"
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Nope." Selina says as she removes the other glove, then looks about, finding the likely spot to dip into the springs which they would all use. "If you don't want to do it, go right ahead and sit out."
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| − | '''Iselsis: '''"Great.", she doesn't add that the last time anyone else saw her naked was a good fifteen years ago and she still wasn't comfortable enough around people to share communal hotsprings.
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' "Ooh... you mean, ''that'' one? You are friends with the Windwraith, Ise?" She says, in a 'oh, soo cooool' manner, stepping up, taking her shoe off, and placing the tip of her toe on the hot water....
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "Oi now, don't make me look like I'd be the stiff-spined general ''all'' the time", Vorpal chuckles without looking up, concentrating on removing the soulsteel clasp of her cloak instead. "There is little we can do for now, so we will rest and relax while we can..." She pauses, then looks up, the blood red of her eyes sudden and startling. "Now that you mention it, the devil-girl has a point. There is one thing we can do."
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| − | The cloak sweeps across the air like a black velvet curtain as she pulls it off her shoulders. Idly folding it up in her hands, the Ghost-Blooded turns over to address the red-skinned demoness: "Iselsis, wasn't it? Why don't you tell me about yourself and what you can do? To be honest, I don't know a thing about you, so the knowledge would be useful in the approaching battle."
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She approaches the spring, and begins shedding her attire. Of course, since the majority of her attire consisted of a simple, even if mystically complex, garb of white silk and a pair of slippers, this was done quickly, her undergarments giving her brief pause as she forms a neat little pile for them all.
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| − | She eases herself into the water, the nearly imperceptable waves of the spring lapping against the firm smoothness of her skin. She leans back against the edge, and lets it begin to warm her.
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| − | Her eyes maybe closed, but her gently pointed ears perk ever so slightly as they evesdrop
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| − | on Vorpal's question, and Iselis impending response.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "You can stand watch then." Selina adds, taking off her boots and putting them near the spring. Her legs are no less scarred than her arms, and in places, a bit more so. Crappy healers, though, she couldn't have done much at the time. And later on, she found it gave her something of a rakish look, so she didn't get rid of them.
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| − | She doesn't add to the Pale Angel's question, though. But she does listen, as she reaches around and undoes the back of the leotard's soulsteel collar. Her appearance does not change, as the gem is not glinting anyway.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Kind of.", she replies to Acelia. She moves over and sits crosslegged on a rocky outcropping a bit higher than the ground around the hot spring.
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| − | "Do you want the long detailed version or just the overview?", she asks of Vorpal.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "Fu." Easing herself to sit down by the pool's edge, Vorpal spreads the folded cloak across her lap so that its magic still continues to protect her. Her skirts spread out across the ground all around her, slightly darker and less gleaming black than the cloak's fabric. "Everything you like", she smiles, "I'm all ears."
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| − | '''Ice: '''Ice snorts and shakes her white mane, impatiently. Isn't someone forgetting about something here?
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| − | '''Fiona: ''' Fiona takes off her dark green cape... and slips out of the champagne dress underneath, and of her underwear, until all that is left are the Orichalcum chains around her wrists, holding the small hearthstone... as she walked to the springs, slipping herself in slowly...
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' She starts ticking off on her fingers. "Demonblood of Adjordan, thus able to manipulate winds and motion. Schooled in the initiation of spirit mastery. Master of the aptly named Righteous Devil style of martial arts. Exorcist. Generally really fucking fast. And I shoot things in the face, and they die. And that's just the brief overview.", she smiles thinly at Vorpal, expecting a whole slough of disbelief and doubt in her abilities to be thrown her way as always.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Manipulation of Motion." Selina grumbles as she takes the leotard off, exposing the rest of her pale scars...and the big red one at her belly. Folding up the garment and putting it on the rock her boots are resting against, along with her gloves, Selina then goes into the pool a bit faster than Fiona.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "Righteous Devil?" Vorpal echoes, the words rising to a strange pitch as she finishes the sentence with a yawn. Exhaling slowly, she tilts her head left and right in an attempt to loosen her neck muscles. "I'm not too good with martial arts, so help me a little. Isn't that the one with... what are they called?" She lifts one hand to the air and clenches all the other fingers except for the index finger into a fist. Then she bends her index finger several times, as if pulling a trigger. "Guns?"
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Yeah. That's the one. Variations exist, that's mostly because people like to use those inferior firewands coming out of Gem these days. Me? I have the real deal. They're pretty damn deadly in my hands too, if I do say so myself. Acelia will attest to that."
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "Hmm." Staring at the other woman thoughtfully, the Pale Angel strokes her chin a few times with her fingers. "How far can you shoot?"
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' One of the notable things about Opal as she lay in the pool, soaking in its warmth, was that between her bared breast was a rather large and dimly glowing hearthstone, seemingly set into her flesh by a ring of White Jade.
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| − | She looks over her shoulder at Vorpal, "Firewands, unless they are artifacts, tend to have a range of about 10 to 20 yards, depending on the length and bore of the rifling. I'm told there are charms that can extend that, however."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Twenty yards for the best result. Fourty if I'm really trying.", she glances down at Opal bemusedly, "You know your firewands. That's interesting."
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| − | '''Ice: ''' Ice stomps one hoof to the ground. The sound is like a goremaul smashing against a hopelessly crumpling shield. Honestly, now, this is getting irritating! ''Someone'' is forgetting ''something'' here, and if that ''someone'' does not get to it soon...
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Firewands are too short-ranged." Selina says, stretching once she is a bit more than waist deep in the water, her black-feathered wings moving out to their full spans as she arches her body back a bit, raising her hands and arms above her head. "You can get better with a good elemental bolt."
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "They worked just fine for sniping in the Boil. None of them ever knew what hit them.", she shrugs at the comment of firewands being too low range.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' "No terribly. My people often have to fight in tight cordors, and bows are impracticle. So, our typical solutions involve projectile weapons such as firewands, though we use a kind of gel for the desired effect. Infact, my master had me make a few Dragon-Sigh Wands - which are a version we use - as practice."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Urban combat does fine with that kind of range, it is true." Selina replies, letting more of the heat soak into her before she dips herself underwater.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' She giggles.
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| − | "Dragon-Sigh wands! Great! I was hoping I would stumble across one of those! Do you think you can make Acelia one? Having her run around without anything to defend herself with seems pretty irresponsible, especially with where we're going. They're not quite like my repeaters, but they'll do."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "After she makes what she promised me, perhaps." Selina cuts in, not intending for her sister to get something before she does. Odd, she didn't recall much sibling rivalry from when she was little...so where did that come from?
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "To be fair, you're not the one walking into a warzone as a regular mortal without as much as a weapon to defend yourself with."
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Vorpal is silent and thoughtful. She follows the conversation with some interest, but does not contribute to it. Her mind is working on other matters, ideas and possibilities for how such weapons could be used in a battle. If the demon-blooded truly is as fast as she claims she is, then perhaps...
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| − | Movement in the corner of her eye catches her attention. Frowning, she half-turns. "Oi, what are you --"
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Doesn't matter. Mine comes first." Selina replies with a hint of menace.
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She smiles faintly at Iselis, and very gently places a finger on the side of her chin. "The Mistress and Gennadi have first bid, of course. The former because hers is the first of my commissions, and the last because he acts as my agent, as it were, for stable work. Besides, such a thing would take at least a month for me to construct, assuming I had all the nessisary items to build it. Essence lenses can be quite hard to come by."
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| − | '''Ice: ''' Enough of this! If the Pale Angel would not come to attend to her needs, then Ice will take the matter to her own judgement.
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| − | Hooves clacking against rocks, the great warhorse launches herself forth. A mighty push of her strong hind legs sends her sailing up into the air, head held high, a triumphant whinny echoing from the surrounding hills. She rises...
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| − | ...and descends...
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| − | ...and lands, with a very much specacular ''splash'', into the middle of the pool.
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| − | As any student of science and mathematics can tell you, whenever a solid item is dropped into a container, the amount of water displaced is equal to the displacing item's volume. Ice, as we know, is a rather ''large'' horse. Water she displaces can be best described as a tidal wave.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' Izabella gets splashed by the torrent of water displaced by the stupid horse.
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| − | Yup. She does. And she gets hit while sitting there very calmly for someone normally so easily agitated.
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| − | The why of it all becomes evident when the water recedes, and Izabella is still sitting on the now wet rocks, still perfectly bone-dry herself.
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| − | "Your horse just launched itself into the pool.", she states calmly.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Oh,", she continues, "that reminds me. I'm pretty stealthy. Hard to see what something swooping rapidly overhead is, I suppose. Though I'm no Day caste deathknight."
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "Yes", Vorpal responds, her voice dangerously dry, her face deadpan, her hair and clothes thoroughly soaked and dripping wet. "I noticed."
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' Selina didn't have to dip herself in the water, as it turns out. The water dipped itself in her. "Fucking hell." She snarls, having ducked and moved away so the bloody horse didn't catch on her and crush her in the landing.
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| − | '''Acelia: ''' The girl is covered in water.... and all she can do is laugh. "Pale Angel, your horse is ''great''!"
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| − | "And, um, Ise... can't I just, like... hide?"
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' Now that she had a very large, seemingly irate warhorse sitting in her lap, it merely seemed the thing to do to pat it gently on the back, and carefully remove oneself from underneath the enormous bulk of the creature.
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| − | Opal was soaked now from head to toe, of course. Water ran from her as she moved from the pool, and she sighed a bit as she took up the train of her hair, and wrung it out like one would do a washcloth.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Of course, and I expect you too, but if something finds you I'd feel better if you had some means of killing it rather than be killed.", she nods firmly, then surveys the mayhem around her.
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| − | "Okay, anyone who wishes to be dry, gather around me please."
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| − | '''Ice: ''' Yes! Yes, she is very great.
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| − | Something about the damned steed's demeanor suggests that she is chuckling to herself. She certainly is casting smug glances in the direction of her mistress while savoring the wonderful sensation of warm water lapping against her flanks. Too long had the warrior queen waded in mud and dirt and chilly snow! Now is the time to enjoy warmth for a change, to soak in the sweet embrace of this lovely hot spring...
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| − | '''Fiona: ''' "Dry? Aren't we here to... you know, get wet?"
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "I am not done yet." Selina growls, eyeing the horse venomously.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Sure, clothes take forever to dry though.", she shrugs, "Fighting in wet clothes seems a bad idea."
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| − | '''Ice: ''' Nor is Ice, as the mount can prove as it saunters about the water, whinnying victoriously. How about a wet ride, anyone?
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| − | * Acelia comes close to Iselsis, soaked in hot water and feeling the cold wind....
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' And Izabella demonstratively holds up her pinky finger, as a magician about to perform a magic trick and...
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| − | Touches it to Acelia's big toe, making the water come rushing off her in a torrent, and rushing down the rocks down into the hotspring.
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| − | * Acelia watches the water go.... looks at herself... then at the water... then touches herself, her bust, her belly, with both hands... as if trying to believe it... "... wow."
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' ''Oho? ''
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| − | Vorpal raises her eyebrows idly and folds her arms over her chest.
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| − | ''That's interesting. ''
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "It never hurts to come prepared for these kinds of things.", she just shrugs, though a bit of a smirk lingers around her lips.
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| − | '''Ice: ''' Pausing in her merrymaking, Ice lowers her enormous head so that her muzzle is level with Opal's lovely face.
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| − | Might there be any skilled flank-rubbers in the environs?
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| − | '''Exceedingly Sublime Opal: ''' She frowned a bit, wondering why the animal was looking at her in such a fashion. She tilted her head a bit, and began to gently scratch Ice as she throught. The Mountain Folk had a few draft animals, so she considered that it just might be itchy. Noting the density of his muscles and the large size of the creature, her hands moved figourously... 'rubbing down' Ice.
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| − | '''Fiona: ''' Fiona got up, her chains making tingling noises as she walked to another one of the pools... passing by Ice and petting her in the head. "Sorry, Ice, you are lovely to look at, but I need to go to another pool. All fine with you, right?"
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| − | '''Ice: ''' The horse does not hear.
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| − | It is too bad that the Ice is not a cat, for if she was, they certainly would be hearing the mighty black beast purr with a contended bass rumble right now. Finally someone who understands how stressful it is to be the mightiest of all war mounts. Finally someone skilled and gentle and kind, with strong hands caressing her powerful self, soothing her aching muscles and evaporating the itchy spots into a sensuous mist of bliss...
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| − | Ahh...
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| − | Ice could get used to this.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "Me too." She says with some irritation, throwing a 'why are you just sitting there?' look at Vorpal as she gets to her feet. "At least this didn't happen before we were all settled in."
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| − | '''Fiona: ''' "Hey, ''I'' was!" She says, easing herself down on the other pool...
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Still dripping wet, Vorpal responds to Selina's gaze with an 'oh, I'll get down to it soon enough, uh yes, I will' look of her own.
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| − | '''Selina de Windia: ''' "That's why I said 'all'." Selina replies primly as she gets down into the other pool, having carted her clothing closer to it as well.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "Oi?" Vorpal taps Iselsis' shoulder.
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' "Oh, did you want to be dried too?", she lays a finger on Vorpal's ankle, and with her too the water comes rushing off her form, as if repellant.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' "Hmm, that's an interesting trick."
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| − | ''It feels interesting, too, Vorpal decides, silently. Similar to water being poured on you and soaking through your clothes, only reverse. ''
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| − | "How is it done?"
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| − | '''Iselsis: ''' She smirks even more now, like what she was about to say was going to amuse her a lot.
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| − | And she answers: "That! ... Is a secret.", and nods sagely.
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| − | She'd spent far too much time around Gennadi lately.
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| − | '''Vorpal: ''' Vorpal looks at her, dryly.
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| − | "I see."
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| − | ----
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/SixthMovement|Sixth Movement]]
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| − | * - Back to [[GoldenCat/DanceOfAngels|A Dance of Angels]]
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