Mar 26 16:47:06 105 PA
From Chronicles
The current game time is: Thu Mar 26 16:47:06 105 PA.
Wandering without going into many buildings has been most of what has occupied Monique's time since she's arrived here in Kingsdale. Yet often, it seems, she finds herself here in the park in the course of her wanderings. Standing near to the pond which normally has many waterfowl in it is where both Monique and Tornaq can be found, the latter of which is whuffling in the water of the pond. The latter is also the reason the waterfowl have fled to somewhere safer. Monique has shed the thick fur coat that she often wears and is currently sitting on the ground near the pond, holding a bone comb in her left hand, apparently in the process of combing out her hair... which appears to still be quite damp. The bear is also quite damp, probably from having dunked himself in the pond.
Compared to the weather just days ago, 53 seems pretty darn warm. Clad in maroon sweats and a white tee Sebastien rounds a hill to pass out of the far wood, hand wrapped around weights as he slowly jogs and shadow boxes his way around the park. This is his third round, and Monique may well have seen him pass on the previous trips. His shirt clings to Sebastien's broad chest and back, fuzzy short hair doing little to stop sweat from running down his face. He's beginning to slow as moves, blowing hard as he comes down the path past Monique yet again.
Though she's aware of the fact that Sebastien has passed more than this once, she's made no effort to stop him or to stall him. It is not her place to interfere, and so she hasn't. Humming softly to herself in the melody of an Inuit lullaby, she finishes in combing her hair within a few minutes. The comb isn't tucked away right away, though. Instead, she clears her own hair from it and then smoothly rises to her feet and starts combing Tornaq, which earns her a disgruntled grumble at first but then a gentler sound, for the bear has grown rather used to such ministrations since she was chosen to hold the power she possesses. As Monique sets about the task at hand, she speaks the odd word or phrase here and there in her native tongue.
Sebastien finally stops, panting in place as he watches the goings-on below with a little smile. He throws another couple half-hearted punches, fists flying with an ease and adeptness that show at least a passing familiarity with martial arts before just walking down the bank towards the lake, bouncing slightly on overworked legs. "Next," Sebastien calls out, stopping to catch his breath, "perhaps we may tie bows in his fur? Perhaps a bubble bath for ah, extra gloss?" Sebastien draws just shy of the 'pungent' distance and watches the pair.
To hearing the voice which she presumes is calling to her since she's the closest person (people tend to leave her be, something to do with the very large polar bear who accompanies her), Monique lowers her left hand and looks to the man. Yet it's Tornaq who moves more than she, turning swiftly and lumbering to place himself between the man and his shaman, his lips peeling back as he roars fiercely. A hint of a smile touches at the corners of her lips, and Monique lifts a hand to lightly touch Tornaq's hip, giving him a bit of a pat there. "You are welcome to try, but if you do, then it is at your own risk. I do not guarantee the safety of your life should you take that course," she says softly.
Sebastien stops dead in his tracks. Big. White. Bear. Right. He finds a rock to sit on, carefully setting his weights on the ground before stretching arms high overhead. "Is it just me he does not like?" Sebastien calls from a safe distance, and peers down at the pair, "or does this mean you are forever condemned to solitude?" The francophone watches the shaman, peering at her leathers and her bones. Strange looking.
See? That's why a lot of people leave her alone. Big, white bear. Scritching the fingers of her left hand through the white fur and to the skin of the great bear, Monique turns her dark gaze to him for a moment, and after bringing her hand back to her side, she walks up to be standing next to the bear's head. Lifting her hand again, she lightly touches his leathery nose, and he flutters his lips in a whuffle at her, and eyes Sebastien. Warily. Like Sebastien might be tasty, later. "I am not condemned to anything. He does not like anyone he does not know," she says softly, choosing to omit the part about Tornaq also not liking anyone he thinks might cause her harm.
Now all Monique has to do is grow out her hair a little further and Sebastien can sneak past the bear, Rapunzel-style. The young man walks to a nearby stump and leans against it, folding thick arms before him to watch the pair. "And ah, what does it take to get to know this lovely furball?" Sebastien wonders. He peers at the Tornaq, and muses, "Is it that you can ride him as Sheena, Queen of the Jungle?"
Ah, if only it were that simple... or that easy. Tornaq has a better sense of smell than that, though, so Sebastien's probability of sneaking past him is very minimal. Monique watches him make for the stump, and she lifts a hand to lightly run her fingers through her hair, tussling it slightly though it settles mostly back where it hand been about her shoulders. "I do not think I quite understand what you mean... I am no queen of anything," she says softly, her brow furrowing slightly as she tries to understand. "I do not ride him. When we travel it is both on foot... to walk or to run or to jog," she says thoughtfully. "He is Tornaq. You call him anything other than that at your own risk," she adds, tilting her head slightly to one side.
Sebastien nods slowly. "Tornaq," he utters softly, nodding. "is it that he knows American?" Sebastien takes a step towards the pair, uncrossing his arms and watching the bear. Glancing only occasionally at the dark woman, "Oh uh, any other language? I have never seen a white bear before. Is he perhaps a d-bee of some sort?" Sebastien takes another step forward, gently easing himself around the bear.
The Inuit woman raises an eyebrow slightly as he looks to the man sitting there, and she chuckles softly. "He understands what you say, what I say," Monique says softly, her tone thoughtful in nature. She frowns as he suggests the bear to be a d-bee, whatever that might be, and she lightly shakes her head. "I do not understand what you mean... a d-bee? He is Tornaq, and he comes from where I do. From far to the North, many leagues from here," she says softly. She doesn't approach Sebastien, but instead stays where she had been, standing near to Tornaq's head, and the bear eyes Sebastien and gives a faint grumble.
"He comes from another world," Sebastien explains. "A dimensional being. Not native to this planet. Alien." The young man pats his pockets, but sadly left his thesaurus at home. Sebastien's advance ends with that grumble, and he licks his lips. Watching the bear. Alright. Sebastien take a step back, and holds up a finger. "Stay here," he speaks, and grins up at the woman. "I will be right back." And stopping to scoop up his weights, the young man jogs off down the trail.
As if she and Tornaq would simply vanish and go somewhere else? Monique and Tornaq exchange a look between them, and the bear shifts his weight in what almost seems to be a shrug, and then the Inuit woman brings her attention back to the man. "I will wait," she says softly, dipping her chin towards him. She has no reason not to, after all. She knows that Tornaq is not from this world and that he's a Spirit being, but then... she's lived with Tornaq for nearly ten years now. Monique watches Sebastien as he leaves the park, and then she chuckles softly to herself before tucking away her comb and lifting a hand to scruffle Tornaq's fur.
He made good time. Maybe twenty minutes later the young man returns on horseback, wearing more clothing, with a duffle bag over his shoulder. The clydesdale he rides is a deep brown with shaggy white boots and matching nose. Sebastien pats the horse's neck as it stops above, and leans forward to whisper in her ear before hipping free and plodding down the trail. The Tornaq might well smell ... fish? Sebastien grins and snaps his fingers, looking back at his horse and pointing at his eyes, then the bear, before eyeing Monique with a grin. He's up to something.
That he's up to something was obvious to Monique even before he returned. Yet she waited, as she said she wound, staying with Tornaq in the park and leaning a little against the now-seated bear. Sebastien has barely started down the trail back towards her when his round ears turn towards him, his black leathery nose working at the air and snuffling, for he's caught the scent of fish. Food isn't so distracting that he'd forget the safety of his Shaman, though, and so he doesn't lift himself from his seated pose next to her. Though in part he doesn't do so simply so that he doesn't interrupt her relaxed pose. Feeling the bear shift a little beneath her, Monique moves a little and looks to Sebastien, raising an eyebrow slightly at what passes between the man and the horse, her gaze turning to the horse to study the beast even from the distance she's at. Interesting. Yet her attention returns to Sebastien, watching the man.
Sebastien pauses well clear of the bear, looking at Tornaq. And at the small, dark, inuit Nique. Then at Tornaq again, and he wiggles his eyebrows. Unzipping his duffle, Sebastien hauls a two-foot catfish out and begins the unwrapping process, peeling back wax paper. "So," he wonders, lobbing the catfish in Tornaq's direction as he wanders down the trail. "Does he love you more than he loves fish?" Sebastien grins and speaks in a more normal voice as he grows closer, "They do say the way to a woman's heart is through her stomach. Perhaps the same is true with, ah..." Sebastien leeeeans way over. Girl bear? Boy bear. Damn.
Fish... Monique's safety... fish... Shaman's safety. The Inuit woman's safety wins, but then... so does the fish. The fish landed close enough, so the bear stretches forward one large and very clawed paw to snatch the catfish from the ground and pull it close. Don't think he's harmless just because he's got food... he can move faster than you think he can and faster than his size would have a person believe. Monique shifts, and brings her balance back to her own feet instead of leaning a little against the bear. A smile touches at the corners of her lips, and then she lifts one of her shoulders in a bit of a shrug. "I have heard it said that with food, a woman might find the path to a man's heart," she comments, her tone thoughtful. Powerful jaws, meanwhile, crunch into the fish and tear a chunk of meat from it before chewing it, which emits even more crunching and other such noises.
Sebastien keeps that duffle swinging beside his knees as he eases within spitting distance of the bear, carefully taking a moment to lay his duffle out again and unwrap another fish. "You are saying perhaps I am acting womanly?" Sebastien asks, underhanding the next fish in Tornaq's direction as the bear grows close to finishing the last. He waits then, watching the bear, to make sure the bear is eating the fish and not eyeing him thoughtfully.
The swinging duffle is eyed even as the catfish is finished, the last of it swallowed down and into what could be considered a never-ending stomach of doom. Tornaq can eat a lot. And so he eyes Sebastien, who smells like fish by proxy of having brought the fish, and as the next fish is tossed, he snatches it from the air with his jaws, grabbing it between his front paws and tearing off a great chunk of the meat. And eyeing Sebastien at the same time. He can do two things at once, especially since Monique's safety depends on it. "Ah, well... I did not say that. You said that," Monique says, a smile touching her lips.
Sebastien digs quickly through his bag, apparently satisfied that he has ... at least one fish left. "Hold out your hand," He stagewhispers quickly to Monique, chucking another catfish at Tornaq without paying the bear more than a glance. He slowly, ever so slowly, reaches a hand towards Monique, glancing between her and the bear. He whistles low, and his horse trots forward. Preparing for a rapid escape.
The current game time is: Sat Mar 28 04:13:25 105 PA.:
The Inuit woman blinks a little at Sebastien, perhaps (and likely) not quite understanding just what it is that he's about. Her brow furrows a little, and Tornaq looks to her. The large bear pauses, which is a touch disconcerting since he has the tail of the latest fish dangling from one side of his mouth. Shifting his weight, he rises into a standing position before giving himself a brief shake. Monique, likely mistaking his intent, holds out her hand but with her palm facing up. Though as the horse starts to trot towards them, both she and Tornaq look to the animal, and Monique takes half a step back, her hand starting to lower as she perhaps gets an idea as to Sebastien's plan. Tornaq, for his part, ignores the latest fish which was tossed to him, and he whuffs through his lips, sending fishing breath in a spew before glomping down the fish's tail.
Sara obligingly trots around, completely unafraid of the bear. Sebastien keeps both eyes on that bear as it stands and shakes itself, before glancing briefly to Monique to offer her a reassuring smile. He stays loose, easy, though Tornaq might catch just a whiff of something. Excitement and fear. As Sara draws near enough for kissing Sebastien latches a hand onto Monique's, slamming a hand in the stirrup and vaulting The horse, trying to pull Monique away of her Tornaq, to ride for freedom!
Tornaq does, indeed, catch whiff of something in the wind. He whuffs his breath again, eyeing Sebastien like the tasty treat the great spirit bear is sure the man is, and then he rises onto his hind legs. He gives a fetid and fishy smelling roar just as Sebastien reaches out to touch Monique. Sacrilege! Monique resists being pulled away, naturally, for she's not about to be separated from Tornaq, likely because she knows fully what his reaction will be. His reaction is, first and foremost, one of anger, and he reaches out with one of his paws to swat at Sebastien. It's only bad if he hits. Really. Resistance not being as futile as some might think, Monique manages to evade and wriggle free of capture, though she does fall and sort of stumble to the ground in the wake of doing so. With Monique safe, the great spirit bear positions himself in a definitively protective pose, standing over her and keeping his bulk between the threat of Sebastien and his Shaman.
It was a good plan, too. A brilliant plan. Grab the girl, ride her around town, bear chases as best it can, he pulls away and gets some time to get to know the lady. What can go wrong? Sebastien tugs at the unwilling Monique, fishy hands gripping a long moment! He tugs! ... And her hand pops free. Sebastien grins as he looks up, ready to ride away. And his eyes go wide as he sees that furry paw of fury descending on his face. Sebastien lands flat on his back, blood trickling from the four lacerations under his chin, dazed and twitching feebly on the ground. Sara roars in fury, leaping over Sebastien to rear up and paw at the air before them, trying to force the bear back!
True, it was a good plan. Unfortunately, it was rather quickly foiled by a bear with a keen sense of smell. Not to mention more than his fair share of determination to keep his Shaman safe and sound. Of course, perhaps it was the fish slime on his hands which played a part in her escape from his grasp. It's hard to say just what the cause could be, though there were certainly better ways to go about getting to know her. Stealing her from Tornaq wasn't the best idea. Monique is on the ground, with a great white bear standing protectively over her, and her eyes are a touch wide to seeing the damage which has been exacted from Sebastien's flesh. The great bear doesn't back away, holding his front paws at the ready to deal out more damage whilst protecting his Shaman. Tornaq roars, loudly, ears back a little and the fur of his neck raised threateningly. Monique, meanwhile, lifts a hand to lightly touch her protector, and then she gets to her feet, her dark-eyed gaze falling to Sebastien. Worried for him, for she'd not meant him to be hurt... though he did essentially ask for such to happen, in trying to take her away. She isn't sure if she should try to get past the horse to reach him, so for a brief moment, she tarries to see what the horse is going to do.
It's an almost comic scene. Woman on her ass on one side, with angry polar bear before her bellowing rivulets of drool at Sebastien. Sebastien flat on his back on the other, twitching and beginning to make soft noises on the other, with a saddled clydesdale horse rearing and screaming bloody defiance before him. Sebastien's leg twitches, knee raising a hair, and he collapses again with an unhappy sort of look on one side of his face. The other side has no expression at all. The large brown horse throws a front hoof down at the bear, batting at it experimentally with an uncanny balance that doesn't look quite ... natural.
It's about three in the afternoon when the being known as Lucy strides confidently into the Plaza Park, only to be greeted by a very odd scene. A man, bloodied and on the ground, be protected - apparently - by a spooky hors, and a strange looking woman in a parka being protected by a giant polar bear. Lucy's never seen a polar bear before, except in vids and stills from her native Canada. Lucy's never seen such a strange horse, before, either. She stops at the entrance to the Plaza, for one rare time, not entirely certain who's side she should be on.
Watching the horse, Monique realises that there is something not quite natural about the beast. She's not totally sure what it is, but there's something decidedly not natural about the horse. With the horse occupied by Tornaq, she takes a brief moment to look up at the bear, and then she looks back towards Sebastien. He's bleeding, and he needs some manner of help. Frowning slightly, she lifts a hand to lightly touch the animal's shoulder, and then she moves a little to one side of him, still well within his protective range. The bear roars again, moving one of his front paws and shifting his weight on his hind legs, keeping himself fairly close to Monique. His Shaman, his duty to protect. The experimental batting of the horse gains an attempted swat from the bear, simply because the spirit animal has no desire to be challenged in his protective duty.
Sebastien finally rolls himself, back to stomach, arms flailing limply. His mouth opens, pink drool slipping free, before he regurgitates a healthy amount of blood. Slowly the young knight crawls a few steps away, eyes opening with bloody tears slipping free. He blinks once, twice, seeing little but red, and from one hand a glowing shaft sprouts to singe the earth against which he moves. He drops a foot under himself and stands drunkenly, swaying dangerously over that glowing blade, and turns there in the park. One half of his face still limp while he spits another squirt of blood, eyeing that bear. His horse, Sara by name, falls to her hooves and backs away from the bear, nostrils flared. "Sabba..." Sebastion manages, words not quite forming correctly.
Lucy finally gets a grip on what's going on around her. Well, not completely, but some idea. Before one could react, she has two pistols out, one pointing at each of the two competitors. Her beautiful elfin face is split by a wry grin before she says, "Back the fuck off, both of you, or I swear, I'll blast you both through the skull." She really doesn't seem to be kidding, either, which seems rather unkeeping with her smiling face. She looks oddly happy to be in the middle of the turmoil.
Tornaq remains a force to be reckoned with, and the claws of one of his great front paws are bloodied. With Sebastien's blood. It was the man's own fault, for seeking to steal away his Shaman. Monique glances towards the great bear, then returns her dark-eyed gaze to Sebastien, worry showing in her eyes. "Sebastien... wait, you're bleeding quite badly. Please, let me help...," she says softly, worry and concern both in her voice. Then come the words from the elf, and Monique takes half a step back, looking past the great white bear to this new threat. Tornaq's attention is equally gained, and he turns towards the elf also, bellowing a deep roar and still standing on his hind legs as he places himself in the line of fire. He won't let Monique be harmed, it would seem, but then, the great white bear is more than what he seems to be. Moving one of her hands, Monique slips it into the pocket of her furry parka, deftly slipping the thong of a necklace around her wrist, to thus be wearing the talisman which is securely threaded upon that leather thong.
Sebastien doesn't hear Lucy or Monique. He doesn't hear anything really, over the ringing in his ears. His eyes blink several times, lashes batting little red crow's feet beneath his eyes. That sword raises as he eyes the Tornaq, a bloody grin on his mouth as he watches it turn away. The squints at the bear, and at the woman beyond, and turns to try and look at what the bear is seeing. he peers off into space, eyes not quite focusing that far into the red haze, and for a moment he gets confused. Where'd the bear go? Why does his head..? And he sinks a hand into Sara's mane to hold himself upright, sword winking out of existence as rapidly as it came. He wraps both arms around the animal's neck, hugging her for dear life.
Lucy lowers her weapons, but keeps them in her hands at the ready. She reaches for a neural mace, but seeing that the knight is already in dire straits (and not the band), decides not to thump him. Then she thinks again, smirks a wry grin, and does anyway, the blue shock of the neural mace dancing around Sebastien's body. She desperately wants to shoot the annoying girl, too, but, alas, for lack of a polar bear, the kingdom would have been lost. Of course, there is no lack of polar bear, here. So he doesn't try to shoot around it, content to watch the knight suffer.
The small Inuit woman takes a moment to look around the bear to the elf, and she frowns visibly, her brow furrowing. She doesn't understand what's going on now, confused as to why the elf has attacked. This is why her people have stayed away from the White Man. Tornaq grumbles, eyes the elf, eyes the neurally maced Sebastien, then lowers heavily to all fours and backs away a couple of steps before turning and keeping the massive bulk of his body literally along the line of fire as he walks back to Monique. There he stops, lowers his head, and lightly touches her shoulder with his nose, a touch just enough to draw his Shaman's attention. The Inuit looks to Sebastien's illuminated body, wanting to help and yet... not seeing a way to be able to do so, safely. She was going to heal him, had the elf not showed up... alas, now... well, now things are different. She looks up at Tornaq, tilts her head faintly to one side at the rumbling noise that he makes, and then she sighs softly before speaking quietly in Inuit to him. Lifting a hand, she lightly touches the bear's chest, then looks past him to the elf who seems to want to wreak some harm on her as well, and she turns and just starts to walk away, her head bowed -- perhaps for a reason, or perhaps not, for without seeing her face it's likely hard to tell for sure. Tornaq follows immediately behind her, essentially covering her back and thus maintaining his protection of her, wary of anyone and everyone in the area and looking more than once over his shoulder towards the others being left behind. No need to stay where people just want to hurt her, after all.
If Sebastien sees it coming, he certainly doesn't move quickly enough to avoid it. As steel kisses his back Sebastien stiffens, arms flailing as he dances the electric boogie. In seconds he crumples to the earth, blood dripping from his wounds to pool below him into the moist earth. Sara, his horse, screams in rage, raising onto hind legs to whip one of those front hooves at Lucy like a steel piston, before she hops over Sebastien and charges the attacker, head bowed and nostrels wide!
Ah, the Kingsdale Park in the morning. The Ex-Merchant Prince, Ordo Malleus, must admit it was one of his most favorite spots within this wretched little kingdom. Heartache after heartache had driven him to the gym, and there he met the woman of his dreams - who, it turns out, wants to eat him. Well, darn it. Not one to be down trodden for long, the Dandy had taken to walking his old haunts in hopes of a moment of respite, and - perhaps - a fair maiden or two to woo. Ah, the flowers. Ah, the birds. Ah, the maniacal horse charging a fair lady with a bear walking away. Wait. Rewind that. Ordo double takes, and then raises a gloved hand as he begins to sprint.
Satisfied that the confrontation is over, and satisfied that she had the opportunity to WHAP the knight with a neural mace, Lucy - terrifying name as it is - turns and follows the woman with the bear out of the Plaza, leaving the knight to twitch, as she holsters her pistols.
The current game time is: Sat Mar 28 08:28:10 105 PA.
