Silver and Steel (Drammor)

(OoC: Life Spark is electricity. Taking place a week after 'In the Air Tonight' Rp.)

BiC:

The late noon breeze was still warm to her, as the young gargoyle glided on the wind. Looking down, she saw the yellow-green field below begin to give way to the cliffs, the glint of water was starting to become apparent, almost blinding her. Amberstone turned her head away, and saw another glint of something in the grass. What the…?

She dived near the shining object, catching herself quickly, before her copper scaled body crashed into the ground. After folding her leathery wings against her back, mostly covering the rounded spikes along her spine, the copper Vassyr cub crept closer to the object.

It was a silver bowl of sorts, as her left forepaw came close to it, some of her Life Spark jumped onto it. Amberstone batted the object, and heard a soft ringing from it, due to connecting with her copper scaled paw. Her cat-like ears perked up, catching a swift wind gust, before something odd crashed down onto her. The cub saw black lines around her, the electricity she gave off wove away from the strands.

A stern voice cried out in excitement, “Caught it!”

What the…?! The gargoyle couldn’t get the strands off of her, due to now being tangled within them, but managed to halfway crawl towards the cliff edge.

“No! Don’t let it get away!” Hurried footsteps closed in, almost coming out of nowhere towards her. With one final tug against whatever weight was holding her back, the cub fell into the freezing water below.

What the heck is… on me…?! Amberstone thought as she struggled to remain above water, not very easy considering she didn’t know how to swim. The weight, coupled with her own, dragged her under the water, as she thrashed about and took a final breath. The current easily swept her along for a ways, before she hit the bottom and managed to crawl up onto a rocky shoreline, taking in massive gulps of air. Her brown fur that covered most of her scales was now almost black. “I…hate… water…” she half growled, as her Life Spark began to send her ears twitching.

Aevukepe rested on a crude mannequin of stone, sticks and tightly wrapped vines. It was John's trophy, regalia from the man's life before had been outcast from his own society for a crime that violated no laws, by way of a crime he did not commit. The armor cast a glance at the straw bed in the corner of the cave where John made his home. There was a mountain nearby, once a man managed to crawl up from the gorge of the river outside the cave, where the armor's owner often hunted small game and gathered roots and berries for his meals. More than once, John had commented that he would have gone crazy had it not been for Aevukepe's company, though he often wondered if the talking armor was a sign of just that. Poor John.

Two nights before, Aevukepe stood vigil on the mannequin, helpless as wolves wandered their way into the cave. Frantically, it tried to wake John, but it came to nothing. The armor had no voice, and could not move on its own. John was sleeping when the wolves came in, and would wake no more. No doubt, Aevukepe was sad to see its owner go, and mourned for his passing, but that was then, and now the armor needed a new owner. It was just as the armor pondered how it might leave the cave that fortune smiled.

A brown-furred creature, the size of a large wolfhound, crawled up from the river's edge outside the cave. Aevukepe could see it clearly. It had been hunted, by the look of it; the creature shed a net from its back as it crawled ashore. It was a winged thing with both coppery scales and brown fur, and it walked on four legs. Its eyes were a yellow color, and Aevukepe first though it to be a beast, before she spoke. "I hate water," she half-groaned, half-growled.

Excellent, Aevukepe thought, she may not be human, but that's far better than no owner at all. Something in the air tugged around the armor, pulling toward it. It was not a physical thing, but something else. It pulled at the gargoyle's mind, beckoning the creature to investigate.

(OoC: Scale shell is her term for metallic armor.)

BiC:

As she walked up the shoreline, the net caught on some rocks and easily slid off of her. “That’s better,” the cub muttered. Something made her blink and look around, she saw a cave in front of her, which had something faintly shimmering in the darkness. She was cautious at first, before her curiosity took hold and made her enter the cave. It’s better than staying out in the open.

Amberstone was greeted by the smell of death, which caused her to scrunch her cat-like face up. Shaking it away, the gargoyle approached the metallic object. “A scale shell? Darn human object…” She ignored her comment, and continued to move towards it, not noticing that she had walked in some still wet blood.

Some rocks fell around outside, before a thud, and then a single person looked into the cave. The cub turned around, impossible to ignore the noise and her tail knocked the armor to the ground, as she just looked at the human. Rocks that were in the armor fell out and clattered to the ground around it.

“What the…? Just like your kind, gargoyle… you killed another innocent person.” The man entered the cave, drawing a shortsword from a sheathe, while she snarled and sparks danced off of her body in an attempt to scare him off. It didn’t work.

As she backed up, she looked at the armor, before growling at the human, as he advanced towards him. A single, Life Spark charged, swipe was enough to stop his stab towards her and made him fall to the ground. The man still was breathing, but twitched around.

Hm… Something still tugged at her though, making her pick up the armor in her mouth before bounding out of the cave and taking flight a short moment later. After a while in the air, Amberstone landed on a cliff, hidden from view and walked into a small cave behind her, setting the armor down in front of her.

The cub just looked at it, still curious about it. “How do humans wear this again…?” she muttered, still unable to think about much else, and eventually slipped it on herself. Her wings were pinned to her back now.

"Ahh, so much better to be worn!" the armor's voice cried jubilantly in Amberstone's mind. Suddenly, everything about the armor changed. All at once, its straps tightened themselves and the clasps secured themselves together, and holes for the gargoyle's wings opened up on the back of the armor, allowing her to stretch them out. Then, Aevukepe armored the base of Amberstone's wings with something akin to spaulders, and a ridge of overlapping bands ran down the length of each of her wings, as far as the first prominent joint. Next, the armor itself shrunk and changed in proportion, fitting her form as though the armor had been molded specifically to fit her. The sheaths of Aevukepe's swords changed angle to be more easily drawn by its new owner, while its colors changed drastically -- silver plates with copper bands and chain, with brassy accents and a cape of new, earthen terracotta color. Finally, the handles of the armor's swords and its hidden throwing knife changed significantly, making themselves easier for the owner to grab.

"Pleased to meet you, Amberstone," the armor's voice rang in its owner's mind again, "my name is Aevukepe." It paused, "Formalities aside, my first and foremost goal is to protect you, so you should acquaint yourself with some of my features. I can keep an eye on your surroundings for you, and as I can see you are not well versed in battle, I can teach you how to defend yourself with the swords on your back, with the throwing knife near your right flank, and in the arts of hand-to-hand combat, in case you might one day no longer own me.

"As long as I am worn, Amberstone, you need not fear exhaustion, for I can sustain you for as long as three days without need for rest or sleep. I have found over my many years that this protection from growing tired will also help my wearers resist poison, if that becomes an issue. Also, I can keep you protected from blows that might otherwise be fatal, though I do not recommend you put yourself in such situations often; I find invoking that protection is very tiresome for me. Now, do you have any questions for me?"

(OoC: A little short. >.> Metal fang is a sword.)

BiC:

“Yeah… a couple…” Amberstone looked slightly behind her, since that’s were she thought where the voice was coming from. She felt odd with armor on her, especially when it suddenly shifted it’s shape.

“A metal fang is good for humans, but I can’t grab onto something that small in these paws of mine.” The cub sighed, trying to recall whatever was talking to her had said. “Hand to hand…? What’s that…?” She then recalled the rest, and realized that she wasn’t tired from fighting against the net and her fight to get onto shore from the river. That’s helpful.

OoC: I apologize for the short post, I couldn't think of very much to do.

BiC: "Yes, I thought it would be helpful," Aevukepe said. Then, instead of speaking in words to Amberstone's mind, the armor directed her with thoughts of movements and images, instructing her to draw its right-handed iron sword, then continued on in mental words, "Trust me, and do this. Now, hand-to-hand is the human term for fighting without any weapons. In your case, that would be claws, teeth, wings, feet, tail and body... but without the instinct and with clear thought moving smoothly from one action to the next." To make its point, the armor instilled Amberstone's mind with images that it had seen over hundreds of years of warriors training in martial arts in classes, teams and fighting on the fields of battle.

Aevukepe paused, waiting for the gravity of its offer to reach its new owner. After a few moments, it asked her mind, "Do you know if anyone saw you fly into this cave?"

As if on cue, a harsh voice called from outside the cave's entrance, "Here's the one! In here!" A man with long, dirty black hair, who was dressed in supple leather armor and cloth-quieted chainmail dropped down to the ground and spun around to face her. He held a fire-tempered hardwood shortsword in his right hand, and toted a lighter version of the net that she had been caught in earlier in his left hand. Aevukepe identified the sword as a gladius. There were also straps of leather strung with metal that swam through his armor and down to his boots, which were cleated deeply into the earth to ground him against shock. He wore three days of stubble and looked as if he hadn't slept in a like amount of time. "We been luhkin' fer you," the man drawled, advancing on her slowly.

One problem though… I’m animal based, not human based. I can’t even swat at someone when I stand up without falling back onto all fours… Amberstone quickly noticed the man, and let her wings open, then shatter into scales. Some flew towards the human, who tried to knock them away.

“Sparks don’t work wit’ me, Vassyr!” The human grinned at her, before the scales let loose a couple of lightning bolts near his head, but never hitting him. He turned his head to dodge one, before looking at the cub again. Amberstone rose up onto her hind legs and swiped at him with her left paw, hitting the man in his left shoulder, which threw him off balance. Her right paw came to hit him again, which spun him out of the cave and fell off of the cliff.

The gargoyle let herself fall forwards, before she jumped off of the cliff and flew off, to find a safer place to be for a while.

The view from above was a nice change. Aevukepe could see why its owner could prefer to fly over traveling along the ground, but also longed for the stability the ground gave it. As a war veteran who was so used to being on solid ground, Aevukepe also appreciated the bird's eye view of an area; it gave the armor all kinds of ideas for how to defend itself on the ground. An arrow whizzed through the air, narrowly missing gargoyle and armor. The vassyr gasped and veered about in the air, but couldn't make herself a more difficult target. That was the other thing Aev missed about being on the ground - it made you more difficult to spot, and more difficult to shoot at. The armor spoke in her mind before the plight of her situation could lead to panic, "We need to head for the ground, Amberstone. Find a safe place to be alone for a while..." its mental voice trailed off for a moment, while the armor searched the forest beneath them, "but first, go in there. Hurry, dive!" Aevukepe popped the mental image of a hollow at the base of a cliff into the gargoyle's mind, instructing her to dive into the mostly concealed branches of a tree.

Having no better plan in mind, Amberstone almost blindly obeyed, speeding for the opening in the copse of trees below. Another arrow flew past her, but the armor urged her to ignore it, until they passed into the shadowed branches of the large tree Aevukepe had spotted before. The vassyr nearly landed on one of the branches, but the armor warned her, "Not yet. They know you came in here. Fly forward and keep low to the ground, and move swiftly."

"But I don't know if I can fly that good," the gargoyle complained.

"You won't know until we find out, Amberstone. But if you don't try, the hunters will catch us, and you don't want to know what they'll do to us after that happens. Humans are sometimes some of the worst monsters this world has to offer," the armor explained. She still seemed uncertain, but Aevukepe figured her nerve would have to come with time. "Follow the images I show you, and try to move quickly. You have to get to safety," it instructed.

Reluctantly, the gargoyle followed the armor's advice. She flew as close to the ground as she could, but kept herself a safe distance from it. Under branch and over hill, she led a path through the wood, stopping on this tree or on that log as the armor told her, but touched the ground only rarely. Though the gargoyle could not see it, the armor was swiftly weaving a path of confusion for any hunters that might try to follow her, and even led the vassyr girl into a couple of broad loops before leaving one part of the wood behind. If someone tried to follow her through there, they would lead themselves back to the beginning of the trail.

Thinking of its charge as far safer than before, Aevukepe recalled a few of the caves it'd seen while in the air. Choosing what seemed to be the deepest and most defensible of them, it fed a chain of images through Amberstone's mind. At some point, she had begun relying on her armor's lead, and now found herself inside a cave mouth. It was not dark in here, for the benefit of the sun shining into the entrance, and could be explored for hundreds of feet if the vassyr felt any lust for wandering. Amberstone paused to rest here for moment, but suddenly realized that even after her flight to the cave, she felt rested and refreshed. When she began to reflect on this, the armor spoke in her mind, "First thing, Amberstone. As long as those hunters are out there, you will not be safe. And, from the look of that man with the wooden gladius, they're out here hunting a young vassyr with the Life Spark. That means you, and that also means they won't be giving up anytime soon. For all we know, they could be prepared to hunt you for weeks, and I don't think fleeing the locale will help, either. They must be following you; they think you'd make a good prize, for some reason, or they've been hired just to catch you.

"So then, your options are limited. Either you can give up your life and submit to the destiny they've got in mind for you, you can run away and hope they don't follow you again, or you can fight back. Which will it be?"

(OoC: Sorry that this is short, I don't know whether to have someone find them or not yet... >.>' )

Amberstone paced around the cave for a moment, weighing her choices. I could run... but there may be more out there...most likely. I'm bad with stealth, due to my scales shine in the light, too noisy on rocks due to the same reason, even if I try to be quiet...

The cub walked deeper into the cave, getting away from the sunlight that caught her scales. The only bad thing about me being in the dark is I can't see well, despite me being something of a cat. Then again, the darkness can help in a way...

She walked over to a large outcrop of spiked rocks pointing to the ceiling of the cave. The gargoyle could still see and took note of all the spikes around the cave, which could hinder movement, since her mother said that once.

Aevukepe, I'm going to fight back. That's the only way I'll know that I won't be chased.

I want you to be sure that this is the decision you want to make, Amberstone. Don't second guess yourself, just be sure of yourself. These guys... I can see that they're tough, but you and I, we're tougher. Got it?

The armor displayed a set of images to the vassyr cub's mind, some of them were even doctored by the armor's limited artistic ability. The images were the cave from the armor's point of view, and Aevukepe was pointing out the most defensible locations to its wearer, in addition to the places she could use to ambush the hunters.

If you're sure you want to fight, then I think it would be a good idea for you to learn how to use your swords, Aevukepe thought to its owner. Your claws are sharp, but you don't want them getting injured on your opponents' weapons, right?

(OoC: Changed the post.)

BIC: You really want to see me use them, huh? Couldn't hurt I guess. Amberstone scattered all of her wing scales around the cave, lacing most around the entrance and other spots that Aevukepe pointed out to her. She pushed herself upright, and moved the remains of her wing to touch the ground, so the fingers looked something like crutches or a spider‘s legs to support herself.

The cub then checked to see if she could even reach the sword’s hilts, and she easily found them without straining her arms. Pulling one out, and finding a chain attached to it made her worry, but it was just as long as her arm’s length, glad that it would reach something when she used the metal fang. Sheathing it, she walked farther into the cave.

They ended up in another large room, after crawling through a small tunnel. The cub had recalled some of her scales back to her wings, in case she needed to use them to block the flying sticks. “At least it could make them slower to get to us. Don’t know what else they have though…”

Her voice was still echoing, when she faintly caught the sound of multiple footsteps entering the cave. “Come out little Vassyr… we won’t hurt you, for long” She spotted one person standing in front of the tunnel, before the crackle of her loose scales rang throughout the cave, deafening her to a strange hiss in the tunnel and the blast caused her to smash into the wall behind her. Amberstone began to cough from the smoke of the dynamite as she fell to the ground and saw a couple of torches come towards her.

“Now we got you…”