Calm Before the Storm [Closed]

[Astraea]

Astraea looked dourly over her domain, casually ignoring the minor issue that she did not actually own the village of Lesphon or any of the surrounding land she was now referring to as her domain. Plebeians and their ilk could argue about who owned what; she was too busy trying to figure out exactly how the hell she was going to single-handedly turn a small farming village into an impenetrable bastion of trained soldiers overnight. Which would obviously be impossible for anyone else, but even for her prodigious intellect it would be... difficult, she reluctantly admitted; the bandit forces that would be raiding them on the morrow had years of experience in killing people, while she doubted the well-meaning villagers had ever killed anything more threatening than the average cow.

Still, they were desperate for help, and she had not been able to resist their pleas. Even if they hadn't recognized her, which still stung a little, but the self-absorbed gladiator was not particularly likely to admit that to anyone. The villagers had agreed to work with the warriors who would save them - which was just her, so far - to build what defenses they could in a single day, and she had some hopes that skills with plowshares and other farming tools could be turned to the taking of lives. Not a lot of hope, but some hope. If nothing else, maybe they could look vaguely threatening while she gallantly sortied forth and was immediately turned into a pincushion by bandit archers, and then they would all panic and run while the rest of the bandits cut them down.

Ah, optimism.

[Deleted]

Well, this certainly wasn't something he was expecting to spend his next couple of days doing. He heard that this village was having trouble with defending themselves against an upcoming bandit raid. One could say he shouldn't have to involve himself since he should be focusing on finding his family's sword and possibly finding a way back home, but he'd be defying his helpful nature. He wouldn't be able to sleep at night if he just turned his back and allowed them to fend for themselves, which from looks alone, they'd be in quite a bind without any skilled defenders. Besides, where was the justice in allowing bandits to have their way? He's battled them countless times throughout his travels in his own world and he abhorred the thought of seeing another village burned to the ground for what? Greed? No way he was going to let this slide. As far as judging whether or not they should be spared, there was no room for such things, as greedy brutes like bandits will never change.

So Veigue offered to lend a hand with fending them off. He heard that another warrior in particular was taking up arms, though he was given a rather vague description of her other than she was "in red". Uh...okay. There are a lot of people wearing red these days, even if in the past. But even if he were to see her, he'd have no reason to approach or chat. Though likely there will be no room for such things when the battle begins other than needing to be sure he has everyone's back in defeating these bandits. However, he believed it was time to continue helping people with the defenses and such to help speed the process, even if it's just the help of one man.

It seemed as though some of the villagers were taking up arms as well, for they didn't want their home to be destroyed. Though it was quite difficult to watch a young teen who was on the ground trying to tighten his scabbard with so much effort. Why he was even attempting to fight was kind of questionable, but he walked up to the teen and gave him the proper instruction. He didn't mind taking the time to stop and help people, though he was quite worried what this kid was going to get himself into. Hopefully someone will pull him out either before things get messy or before the mess even begins. Though it would seem pointless since if children and teens haven't changed much between the past and future, then trying to talk them out of fighting was kind of a waste of time. Best to just keep a close eye on them.

When he finished helping, he spotted someone quite hard to miss. Red...okay, that's one description down. Now for the rest of the non-existent info. She had a weapon on her, so it was a strong possibility. Though he was not one to go guessing who is who, so he simply just avoid direct approaching despite being in a distance where he'd be noticed, but he wanted to take a little break from helping with the defenses for a bit, so he just leaned on a nearby wall to gather his thoughts on how he'll be able to assist with the actual fighting, since they are kind of depending on those who do possess some combat experience.

[Kaelu]

"Quit it!" Kaelu shouted over her shoulder as she ran in an almost zig-zag pattern. She bounded to the left and darted the right and ran around a random person and made loops in an effort to lose the one pursuing her.

The little wolf cub that her new found friend Khasar had discovered and taken up seemed to have a fascination with her. If it wasn't sniffing at her, it was almost surely chasing after her. Perhaps it was base animal instinct. She was a rabbit and the little one was indeed a wolf, not just a dog who might only think it a game. This one might actually think her more food than friend and for that Kaelu fled from it. She would not mind it so if only she were certain that this was all in good fun. "Khasar!" She cried out in a whiny voice as she ran off in another direction into the small village they were passing by on the road, "Make it stop!"

She bounced past a man leaning against the wall of a building, her eyes glancing over him briefly as she continued on, and up a rise. Kaelu thought for sure that she had lost the pup. She paused half-way up and turned about, but the pup was not far from her heels. In truth, she hadn't been running as fast as she could. If she did that, then she was sure to lose Khasar and him being her only friend and acquaintance made doing that just impossible. With the pup in hot pursuit, though now tiring, Kaelu swiftly darted up the hill. She glanced over her shoulder to check once more and... "Oooof!." Kaelu had bumped heavily into another body. She bounced back and crouched down, from there she looked up at the back of a woman dressed in red with a sword at her hip. Kaelu's eyes went wide as she took in the sight of a woman who oozed confidence in the same way she had known some of her kind to. "I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going. Wow, you're pretty and such a nice shade of red, too! Hey, what's going on?" Kaelu was caught in a trance by the woman warrior and she forgot about the wolf pup who chased after her and instead caught her attention on the busy village. Only now did she see that everyone seemed to be busy doing some strange things. Did this woman know?

[Astraea]

Sidetracked watching a swordsman help out some kid with his sword, Astraea was completely clueless to the approach of Hurricane Bunny until after the impact, vaguely aware of the general approach by the sound but eager to assume it was just a villager doing something unimportant. It was an unpleasant realization to suddenly be jarred into motion, and while she knew enough of motion to stem what could have been an unpleasantly abrupt meeting with the ground, the impact was enough to jolt her out of her thoughts and into action.

'Action' only in that she realized she was not so much under physical attack as verbal, an unexpectedly... furry individual accosting her with a level of excitement that prompted a raised eye brow and a half-smile from the gladiator. It was hard to be angry with someone who was that excited about something-or-other, and she didn't think most bandits were unarmed teenaged girls with... rabbit ears? Pulling the hand from its rest on the hilt of her sword, Astraea raised both hands in a placating gesture, chuckling with amusement at the thoroughly unusual nature of the scene she had unwittingly become a part of. "There are autographs for everyone, no need to shove!"

Deflecting the situation with humor. A good - or bad, depending on how one viewed it - habit of hers, formed over time as a response to stress. Rabbit. Taguel? As her new furry friend happily tittered on, Astraea's mind split onto multiple tasks, connecting the girl's appearance to species and then subspecies in one train of thought while digesting the greeting in another. At least it was friendly. She was friendly. Taguel were not animals, she knew that much. "It's quite alright, miss." Nothing wrong with being nice to people who weren't trying to kill you, right? "And thank you, I think the crimson really brings out my eyes!"

Inane responses to a situation she was only now beginning to understand, but she had reacted on instinct rather than conscious thought, relying on her assumed persona rather than specifically building a response. At least she probably hadn't looked like a complete idiot in the process. The smile dropped from her lips in an instant as Astraea processed the girl's last comment, considering possibilities and consequences alike at once. "I am aiding the town in preparing for a bandit raid. They were holding out for a hero, and I answered the call last night." And that other sword user, the dark haired man - Astraea turned her attention to him for a moment as well, dragging him into the conversation with about as much subtlety as a Cyclops in a bakery. "Are you here for that as well, sir?"

Turning back to the Taguel girl, recalling knowledge that Taguel were supposedly fighters of some repute, the gladiator eyed Kaelu for a moment before picking back up after a brief pause. "The morrow will be dangerous. Unless you'd like to help, it would be wise to escape while you can." She snorted, shaking her head. "I've already made my choice - I cannot abandon these people."

[Khasar]

Khasar usually walked with Cu almost draped around his neck. He'd started it for when the wolf's paw was injured, but the little cub seemed to enjoy it. Once he had grown a little more he'd have to walk everywhere, but walking had its own set of problems. Mainly the fact that the cub had an obsession with the little Taguel. Khasar would have stopped it, but he found it far too enjoyable. Then Kaelu ran into the village off the road, and Khasar had to follow. She'd had enough, he had to stop Cu before she became upset with both of them. So he grabbed the rope attached to his crosspiece, and hurried after his wolf, and in turn, his friend.

He came up the hill just after what looked like an apparent collision. As Khasar ran up, Cu was just beginning to lick Kaelu's calves. The young swordsman scooped up the pup, and held his face close to his own, "No, Cu. No. Don't do that aga-" Khasar began to laugh as Cu licked the swordsman's nose. He set the cub down, and it began to run around the woman in red whom Kaulu was speaking to. Apparently there was trouble with bandits for this small town.

She called to a man Khasar hadn't noticed, a swordsman. Khasar leaned over to the Kaelu and whispered, "Sorry about the little mutt there Lu." He then looked at the woman in red, "How many bandits is it miss?" Khasar smiled, it would have felt odd trying to be too serious. It wasn't a full grin, just a small curl of his lips, as he didn't want to seem insensitive. This village didn't seem very prepared for any sort of attack. He didn't want to leave these poor people to die.

[Deleted]

Veigue's eyes popped open as heard a lot of screaming, believing to think some sort of trouble was amiss...that maybe the bandits had a sudden change in heart and decided to fight here and now. Though that possibility was soon erased entirely when a rabbit-like girl zipped passed him. He heard about the different races this time seems to have and judging from her appearance, she must have been a Taguel. He hadn't seen any of them since he was beamed here and he wondered if all of them were full of high spirits like the girl was. While he was interested in Taguels, Veigue wasn't exactly in a talkative mood to indulge in his natural curiosity towards the unknown. Another appeared on the scene who was apparently acquainted with the Taguel girl. But it also seemed as though the woman in red was exactly the person he heard about.

Seeing as they all were having a conversation following the sudden event, Veigue simply leaned back on the wall as he went back into his thinking position. Just as he was thinking of possible strategies he could take for the upcoming battle, it seemed as though he was addressed by the red warrior out of the blue. At first, he didn't really know how to respond since he didn't expect to be brought into the conversation despite being in listening distance. However, since he was questioned, he was expected to give an answer.

"...Yeah. I figured I could lend a hand fending off these brigands." He spoke up with a straightforward tone as he looked over to her in response. Guess it was obvious he was fighting since he was carrying a weapon on him. Seemed like they may have found some potential additions to the force though, depending on the other two's response. Still, he remained puzzled on the actions of these bandits. They usually attacked with no warning or simply waited for their target to let their guard down before a raid. But actually being alerted of their assault had him worried the most...unless things are different in the past. Something tells him that that either they're up to something that is being covered up by the warned raid or they may very overconfident. This was a farming village after all.

But it's a good thing he still has time to figure things out before it's time for battle, so until he was addressed again, he stood in silence once more to gather his thoughts more properly.

[Kaelu]

"What's an autograph?" Kaelu looked back at the young woman before her. The very first words she heard from her lips were about shoving and autographs and she only knew what shoving was. She cocked her head to the side, hoping to learn just what this strange thing was. At the very least the next words she was graced with were ones that she understood quite well. She nodded firmly in agreement, "Oh yes, I think so too!"

Khasar appeared soon after, finally scooping up the wolf pup and saving her from the licking and nuzzling that it afflicted her with. Kaelu remained crouched down however, looking between Khasar and the woman warrior she had bumped into. She learned now just why the entire village was so busy. Her eyes went wide at the word 'raid' and 'hero'. Bandits was new to her, but it was clear that 'raid' was bad and 'hero' was good. She jumped to her feet and cried out, "How awful! But they don't even look like can fight! That's unfair!" Kaelu cried out. "I want to help. Khasar, you don't have to, but won't you help too? Please?" She spun about to look at Khasar. She had no idea if she needed to appeal to him yet she did so all the same. Kaelu could not allow something so unfair, so dishonorable to occur.

"So many nice people! Helping each other!" She remarked of the stranger she had passed by earlier. Kaelu felt like she was already making some new friends and now she had the chance to help others. Now if only she had met all these people long before coming to this part of the land. She would not have been so lonely for so long before.

[Astraea]

Astraea shrugged in the red-headed swordsman's direction, half smiling. "Don't know." Which was, incidentally, something she had found interesting - the villagers had been remarkably vague about the actual numbers... or why exactly there were bandits attacking, or how many times they had done it before. "There's more going on here than meets the eye, I suspect." Which left it up to them to find out exactly what was going on before they jumped headfirst into certain death, she supposed. Not very glorious, but it was better to be alive and pragmatic than dead and draped in one's own entrails.

On that note, it would also be nice to have people around to keep her alive. Yes, single-handedly defending the village from a bandit invasion would make for good PR, but realistically she would just end up with an axe to the face long before the bad guys ran out of bad guys. The blue guy was in, the crazy bunny lady was in, the red guy... "I will fight alone if I must, but any aid you three could provide would be appreciated." Wouldn't be her first experience in team fighting, of course - she had enough experience with that from her past in the ring to work well with others.

"Can all of you fight?"

[Khasar]

Khasar turned to Kaelu as she pleaded with him to stay. He grinned, "Don't worry about me, I don't know how well I'd live with myself if I walked away." That being said, this sounded dangerous. There could be anywhere from two children with sticks to a horde of experienced raiders. They could be fools, or they could trick the villagers into walking into a slaughter. He grinned and turned back to the woman in red, "You won't have to fight alone. I know m' way around my sword, I won't slow you down."

[Deleted]

"...What he said. Hopefully my skills will be of use to you as well." He replied towards the female warrior's question immediately after the other swordsman. If there were many of these bandits, then Veigue knew from the start that he has to trust these fighters despite needing to distance himself from most while here. While he wasn't afraid of anyone in this time, he just wanted to avoid causing some sort of time paradox without even knowing. Even then, he was questioning himself on why he involved himself from the start. But his do-good nature tends to interfere with rational thought...not really a bad thing though. If anything...if he fights here, he may alter someone's future for their benefit. The less bandits around, the less killing they could do.

...Or perhaps he was just over thinking things. There was no definite proof he could screw things up here for his own time (or if this wasn't some sort of alternate dimension or something) and if he truly had no way back home, then he might as well do what he can as best as he knew it while stuck here: just following his natural instincts like his sister taught him. But still feeling the need to assist with the defenses the townsfolk may be struggling with, the sacaean swordsman pushed himself off the walls of the house he was leaning against and walked away from the small group, though halted for a second to say a few final words. "I'm going to help out around town as much as I can. Until then." Continuing on, he decided to try and spot the nearest villager that may need some help. The more he can help prepare, the faster everything will be set.

[Kaelu]

"I'm not going to need a sword, am I? Because I've never used one of them before. I know how to fight, though! I've fought monsters!" Kaelu asked at first a question with some concern. Her tone changed with her mood as she spoke about not having used swords to how she knew how to fight and her accomplishments. While she had, at point of fact, only ever fought one monster in truth it had grown to plural. She had trained to fight more than one and she would have fought more than one if she hadn't gotten lost. Then again, if she hadn't gotten lost, then she'd never be here at all but back with her Warren and among those of her Tribe. All the same she declared proudly, "I will happily fight for those who cannot!"

She was pleased that Khasar had agreed to help. Kaelu beamed back at him with a broad smile. Her attention turned to the stranger though. He was so helpful! Quiet, but helpful. It made her very curious about him. He had been here before she and Khasar had arrived, whether by accident or not, and it was admirable to see others coming to the aide of innocents.

"What can I do to help?" She asked, spinning from the quiet man to the woman in red. She was practically bouncing in anticipation now and with all of her energy, she needed to direct it properly or risk losing it all before the battle itself had even begun. "Do we have defenses? Where will the villagers hide? Do we have to worry about fire?" She asked question after question. There were more in her head, some already dancing on her tongue with the urge to be said, instead she stopped suddenly. She went very still and with a jolt she asked loudly, "Wait! What's your name? This won't help if we don't know what to call each other! I'm Kaelu, to start, from the Rabbit Tribe of the Taguel."

[Astraea]

She tried not to show it, but tenseness she hadn't realized had been there seeped out her shoulders as Astraea realized she wouldn't have to do this alone - the stress she had been pointedly ignoring, of knowing that she had signed up to attempt to singlehandedly protect a village from a bandit assault, had not been as thoroughly quelled as she had hoped. Not that she was likely to admit it to anyone there, least of all herself. Even if she didn't know anything about these people, and had some qualms about letting the excitable, seemingly-innocent rabbit girl fight.

Still. Taguel were supposed to be fierce warriors, were they not? She had never fought one herself, but watching one in a fight could be useful for tuning her own combat style - or at least having some data to work from in case she ever had to kill one. Hopefully not this one; the crimson gladiator had a feeling that it would be like kicking a puppy. Or a rabbit. Whatever. That had been a terrible simile, in retrospect.

Not... nearly as terrible as the blue swordsman was at socializing, Astraea offhandedly pondered as Veigue excused himself immediately without even sticking around long enough to talk strategy, but she'd hunt him down later. They needed to be able to work as a group at least for the next day, and he would need to be kept up to date on their plans.

That was then, though, and this was now. Returning her attention to the excited Taguel, Astraea smiled - she couldn't help it, the enthusiasm was infectious - and responded to the barrage of questions. "Then I will look forwards to seeing your skills in action." As for what they could do... she had been pondering the question herself for much of the afternoon, and had yet to come to a brilliant conclusion, but with more people around she had a few ideas. "The honor is mine, Kaelu. I am Astraea, the Crimson Flash, of the... humans." Pause. Beat. "Alright, your introduction was better. And what was your name, sir?" A light chuckle, and she continued. "We'll need to investigate the true extent of the bandit assault, see what we can do to turn farmers into warriors in less than a day, set up area denial defenses to funnel opponents in, and maybe try to find out what the hell is actually going on."

A thought struck her - they had no range to speak of, unless Taguel happened to be able to throw houses at people, and she didn't see a bow on anyone. "...We may also need to discuss how to deal with archers. We'll be easy targets, immobile and swamped by foes."

[Khasar]

Khasar grinned at Kaelu as he placed his hand on her shoulder to try and calm her down. He didn't want her to get too excited. He'd seen the way that humans had treated Delano, and while the man had been a dragon, he doubted human bigotry was about splitting hairs. Hairs hares, that thought came up a lot with the girl around. His thoughts digressed, he didn’t want her to get too excited about helping these people. If she did, it would crush her if they spurned her. If they did, he wasn’t very sure he’d stay to help. He liked people, he liked talking to them, and he liked being as kind to everyone as he could. He would not have dealings with those who were vile.

The swordsman in blue said a few things Khasar didn’t really hear, and strolled away. He moved very well, like he was hiding how athletic he was. He seemed like he wanted to help, and Khasar decided that’s all he needed to care about. These people could need them more than he expected, so the man who showed no desire but to help was probably very useful. That was a hectic thought.

”Well this is uncomfortable, I’m Khasar, and I’m also the crimson flash...” Khasar actually managed to keep a straight face for a few seconds before he chuckled. ”I’m just Khasar, of the Wolf Tribe of Humans. We’re from up there.” The swordsman pointed northward, hoping she took the up to mean on a map. He picked up Cu, and scratched his chest. He was getting a little heavier, but Khasar didn’t want the pup around bandits just yet. That’s another thing he had to keep in mind.

He looked around after she mentioned investigating to a degree. ”Would you like us to ask anyone in particular? I’m not bad at sneaking myself, if you’d like I could scout around. Commander.” He smiled as he said commander.

[Deleted]

From the looks of things, the villagers seemed to have been holding it together for the most part. Some of them were helping each other out, which was relief because he'd have to end going back and forth helping them with the simplest things. But what he was concerned about the most was what kind of "defenses" some of them were setting up. He hadn't seen anything like that since he's been here, though the first location that came to mind when thinking of defense was the village entrance. And just as he thought, there was quite a crowd of people there. Though something caught his attention immediately besides the people. A tall structure...no, an enormous structure. Guess that was supposed to be a barricade...but it...looked more like a wall. Great for keeping them out, but what about the fighters that had to fight outside it?

As he approached closer, he examined the "barricade" closely. While pondering a bit, a middle-aged farmer approached him out of the blue. "Ah, you must one of the volunteers! Mind helping us with this barricade? We figured that some folks could hide behind this, and we can pull some sneaky stuff!"

Veigue couldn't help but chuckle a bit as the man explained their plan. "...Sure thing. But don't you think it's...uh...a little too tall?"

"Nonsense! There's never such a thing as 'too tall'. The more effort we make into building this thing strong, the better we can keep those hooligans out. We may be farmers, but we sure can make some sturdy stuff...even if we can't fight too good!"

The swordsman didn't really have a clue on what to reply with, nodding his head helplessly as he was going to follow the man. But despite what the man said, the wall of a barricade appeared unstable and a sudden gust of wind could easily send the thing falling. However, Veigue's thought soon came to reality as he noticed wall beginning to shake and slowly crumble from above. He swore under his breath as he cursed the fact that his thoughts of the worst case scenario tends to come true sometimes. A lot of the farmers and villagers that were help constructing it began to flee as quickly as they could. Just as Veigue was about to high-tail it out, he noticed a little girl who was running way too slow to get out of the way, as he spotted a large chunk was about to break off and would likely land on her. He noticed some of the farmers trying to go back in, but he had a feeling they wouldn't be quick enough on their feet to scoop the girl out and keep going....wait, why was she even over there?

Holding that thought for the sake of the moment, Veigue sprinted forth as quickly as he legs could take him. He halted his momentum the moment he approached the girl and lifted her completely off the ground when she tripped. It was quite the close call, as he was forced to leap forth to avoid being whacked silly by the large chunk he predicted would land there. By the time he rolled in the dirt with the girl still in tow, most of the "barricade" had already collapsed...and with some of it still intact, it actually looked like a legitimate barricade now, even if it was completely by accident.

One of the farmers approached him as he rose, Veigue handing the girl over to him so he could find her parents or whoever she belonged too. But now that this thing came crashing own, maybe they'd think twice on building something so big. Sighing at the thought, he just stood there staring at the remains now with his arms crossed as he tried to think about what to do next. The same farmer before the structure collapsed came back as he placed his rather large hands on Veigue's shoulder.

"Hey! Thanks! Guess it...was a little too big, huh?" He tried to play it cool, laughing the event off a little. Thought he way he looked at the swordsman, it seemed like he had an idea brewing. "So, do you have any suggestions on how we'll go about this? I've kind of overestimated our skill in this sort of thing..."

Veigue didn't respond right away, but he closed his eyes for a moment to think a bit. Though a few ideas popped into mind already. "Well, we can repair the barricade like it is now...and we can also use the debris to construct a second one or possibly a third." Now he turned to the farmer directly, passing a little smirk as he continued to speak. "...Also, let's...keep it at least three times smaller than before." The thing was damn near taller than all the buildings in the village!

[OOC: You all can skip Veigue's coming turns for now. I'll just post again whenever the time is right.]

[Kaelu]

"But that's impossible, Astraea!" Kaelu shouted out. How could anyone turn farmers into warriors and all in less than a day? Kaelu knew that such a task was far beyond them. Yet she was no naysayer and she hardly cried doom and gloom. She sucked her cheeks in and made a fish-face, her brows knitting together as she puzzled over this problem. Khasar could sneak about and try to glean some information about these bandits, but something just had to be done about the villagers.

"Ah!" Kaelu thought she had an idea. It might not be a very good one, though. She looked back at the village. Their other companion was addressing the issue of the growing wall that some of the folk had gotten to building. "They don't really need to fight." She began, her eyes on the village and the people within who scurried about. She turned back to Astraea with a smile, "We will have them help us make a feint. They can play at being an army to scare the bandits!"

It seemed like a good idea to her. They clearly had a lot of folk to work with even without counting the children and the elderly. If the bandit group was very large, then the feint wouldn't really work... but if it were a small group then maybe they'd lose heart in their attack. It'd surely be easier to take them down if they were scared. "Is it a good idea? Will it work, you think? If we can have everyone pretend to be soldiers and the like?"