Strike fear in the hearts of BAers! (Altamira)

OoC: You said it, not me.

So, the character I will be using for this return to the BA is Tahredron, the most appropriately intimidating character I've got, and possibly the one most like what lots around ZU think I'm like. (The character that holds that particular honor, in actuality, is my most recent one, Robbie.)

Tahredron's profile, as sadly spartan and old-cheese as it may be, can be found at the bottom of my post, here. (Having post #2 makes things so much easier.) A difference to note from the profile and here is that he is not wearing his armor, or the helmet.

And let me apologize beforehand about how long I ended up making the opening post. I was struck with inspiration, and had to use it. I'm also not particularly concerned as to where this goes. If it's a battle of words, rather than actions, then it's just as fun. Let's just see where the flow takes us, shall we?

Now, then...

IC:

It was a dark and stormy night. So dark, in fact, nothing at all could be seen, until a crack of lightning would flash and put the entire landscape in a stark relief. One such lightning strike suddenly lit up a castle, nestled atop a high cliffside, overlooking an expansive valley. Approaching it, was a lone figure, moving carefully up the rocky path, cloaked in a large, water-logged traveling cape.

"You know," Tahredron remarked calmly to the expectant student standing before his large desk. "I am impressed," he paused, and the student seemed to swell slightly with hope, "...by just how well you can redefine the term 'clichéd' in a single paragraph." The student immediately looked crestfallen, and Tahredron contined on without mercy. "I really don't know why I agreed to review the writings of the students who do such things here."

He stood, still holding the collection of pages in his left hand, then went on, "All I ever get are these absurd writings that have such terrible openings," he waved the pages as emphesis, but his tone remains level. "Or terrible arrangements of words. It's a wonder you humans have language at all, with the amount you tend to mangle or muddle your own words."

A disapproving stare was fixed on the slightly trembling student for a good thirty seconds before before Tahredron said, "Take your papers and get out of my sight." The students papers lifted from Tahredron's hand and batted the owner of them on the back of the head until he had successfully made it out of Tahredron's office, at which point, they flew randomly around in the hall for the student to retrieve. The office door then shut with a slam.

Now mercifully alone once more, Tahredron held out his hand, and his staff came to it instantly. He stared at the top of the staff for several minutes, mostly as a point to focus his eyes while his mind looked elsewhere.

Eventually, he concluded that the time had come for him to be active beyond the books and his office once more, and he struck the ground with his staff, to end up in an apparently deserted town street.

Tahredron took a sweeping glance around, considering what may be of interest. It appeared that he was standing in the commercial district of a small human town, with shops and restaurants stretching on down the way. This town also had a decent number of large trees and the street was paved with cobbles, making the whole scene shaded and picturesque.

He strode silently down the street, listening. There was obviously something wrong here, as there was no signs of life, human or otherwise, moving about. After passing two buildings, the sound of a footstep brought him to a stop, and he waited to see who approached.

OoC: Nice start! :] I'll be using Hayden for this--it'll be her first appearance outside of the tourney and one or two IMRPs.

IC:
The humans had fled some time ago; that much Hayden could tell from the state of things. She had seen candles in stores and homes that had been left alight from a past evening, dripping into pools of wax spreading at their bases; and all throughout the streets, she had spotted troughs placed under gutters that snaked along the eaves of buildings, left unemptied and uncleaned, and filled to their brims with still, murky water. These things went beyond negligence--it was a citywide affliction, affecting the laziest bachelor and the most fastidious homemaker. And when that vast range of people were being affected by the same thing, then there was a true problem in the town--a reason to run, even.

Generally, when a creature sees that another has fled an area, they do the same, assuming that the first had a legitimate reason for wanting to escape; Hayden, however, did not think along those lines. She was a peaceful, carefree being, and even when problems arose where she lived, she was so used to fixing them along with the other sprites in their duty as guardians of nature and the earth that she never thought of running. Only of seeking the source of the problem.

If something has scared the humans--creatures we're wary of ourselves--then this problem must be very dire. But I don't hear a single thing in this whole town, just the wind, and...wait!

The edge of a shadow, slender and tall, wavered on the street around the corner before slinking back out of sight; it impressed upon the sprite a mystical, inhuman feeling, like a fluttering in her heart that hinted at some degree of magical energy. The presence was neither threatening, nor comforting--just very indistinct and mysterious, like some sort of apparition was wandering the streets. She couldn't be sure if this was the cause for the human's flight, but she resolved that she would at least look.

Hayden took a moment to silence her breath and steady her heart; and then, a shield gripped in her hand, she stepped round the corner to look the owner of this shadow in the eye.

OoC: You're awesome, Aiko.

IC:

As the figure rounded the corner, Tahredron spent scant seconds analyzing the creature before him. Hardly a threat, he concluded...but the armor and shield made for an interesting appearance. His mind drifted to a human myth he had read recently, originating from somewhere called "England."

Tahredron spoke in a soft but very audible tone. "Interesting choice of clothing you have." Raising an eyebrow, he added, thinking of that myth, "Expecting some dragons to slay?"

He shifted his weight slightly, and advanced on her position, holding his staff closely to his side, its orb glowing slightly blue.

Hayden rose the visor of her helmet at the question, and peeked out with two large, gray eyes full of both childlike wonder and apprehension at the sight of a stranger.

The figure that stood before her was taller and more arresting than even his shadow looming on the cobblestones had suggested; he stood well over a foot taller than the sprite, with pure white tresses of hair and intelligent green eyes set in a thin, keen face, and he was draped in very elaborate clothing, covered in markings she did not recognize. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of his appearance, however, was the staff he held so decisively in his hand, atop which glowed an orb of the palest blue.

Hayden's attention was held captivated by this crystal casting gentle light as she finally summoned up the words to speak; "What...what is a dragon?"

Tahredron smiled with an expression that seemed to say I knew you'd say that. In actual words he said to the girl, "I suppose not, then." He decided, after a split-second hesitation to answer her question. "It's a human myth about a giant flying lizard that could breathe fire and liked to eat people and take their money."

With a slow, expansive sweep of his free hand and his gaze he indicated all of the town before him and said, "I don't think that one would cause abandonment like this, and I take it from your rather baffled," he added almost as an aside "and fearful" before continuing, "expression that you did not cause this, either."

"N-no...no, I didn't," Hayden babbled, still a little bewildered by this elf who seemed so ethereal and composed. He smiled at her, but something about it was a touch...cold, or maybe just belittling. To her, it seemed to say, You're such a naive and clueless little creature; but worry not, for I will deign to enlighten you. The sprite decided that this bothered her. The Guardian Sprite was far more powerful than her children, and far more wise, but she had a motherly, benign, and humble approach to things. Her view was more of a "let's share power" and her manner when educating the sprites more that of a gentle elder rather than the "holier than thou" approach some figures of influence took. Hayden had particularly noticed that humans seemed to lean towards the latter.

Even so, she reminded herself, no one deserved to be run out of their homes as they people seemed to have been.

Hayden looked back up an expanse of robes into the elf's green eyes, and said, "I...ah, thought you had scared away the humans, but...I take it that you didn't? You...don't seem like someone who'd prey on a whole unsuspecting town." After taking another glance around, she added, "...Do you have ideas as to what might have?"