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Post by Mubashir on Feb 24, 2023 16:17:55 GMT -5
It was not everyday that Mubashir came to the moonglade, though he might have to make trips more often. The amount of moon things in Crescent City had been quite the culture shock from someone who had lived most of his life in Sol dominated areas. Not to mention the exquisite samples of sunscreen that he had bought as a souvenir. But, alas, work eventually get's in the way of even the most pleasant vacation.
The beautiful Ms. Alerian had yelled at him in a bar there, told him to drop off a package to someone on the other side of these stupid woods you stupid leech. Truth be told he had made it this far without tearing up, but that had hurt. He was also extremely lost, but that was besides the point. He's not a leech. Every one of these silly glowing plants looked the same to him. And he was pretty sure he had passed that particularly green one at least twice now. Was it a left or a right at the tree that looked like Sultan Addatian...Or was that Samair? He had no idea, and it was getting late...the sun was almost up.
A crunch of his feet followed by a short yelp had broken the silence. Lifting his foot, he found the squashed remnants of a pretty big bug underfoot. Gross.
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Post by Askr Mimameith on Feb 27, 2023 13:43:10 GMT -5
It is a rare thing that Askr travels especially far for anything other than work. Usually the few things that can drag him out of the familiar sphere of Darkveil City include work of some kind or a chance to pay a visit to someone he knows-- even then, it's rarer still that even those two things drag him far beyond the easternmost side of Charon, beyond the familiar sands of the Zeinav Desert or past the storm-shadowed skies of Dragon's Cradle. It isn't as if the Ring of Cinders is the only mercenary band on the continent, after all, and there's seldom a good reason to venture too far beyond the space they've carved out for themselves, especially when travel provisions may cost them more than they'd earn from any work they could find.
But it is not work that brings him out to the Lantern Light Wood of the Moonglade today. No, neither blood nor coin call out to him here in the rose-lit depths of the Moonglade's forest-- he's here on a... foraging expedition. Specifically, mushroom hunting-- more specifically, mushroom hunting for Nyr.
Askr's visits to the Desert Rose are formulaic; he drops by and asks to see Nyr, he sits with Nyr while he works on the tasks his apprenticeship demands of him, and Askr listens carefully to each and every thing the other boy has to say. Sometimes they are mere discussions of the levels of business at the apothecary-- other times, he will mention the projects he is working on. Those are the discussions that catch Askr's ear the most.
And on his last visit, Nyr had mentioned looking into the powder of some specific mushroom that grew out in the Moonglade-- a particularly difficult one to harvest, at that. And with him being so busy, mired in learning and work...
Well. It was not as if Askr was especially busy.
Some might call it ludicrous to venture across several nations in search of a mushroom for a companion. Mercifully, Askr has no concept of such things; he follows the feelings that seem most right, follows orders no matter how strange or uncanny, and what felt most right in the wake of Nyr's explanation was going out to the Moonglade to find the source of his interest. The key difficulty was finding it-- and... Askr could no longer remember exactly which forest was said to grow the mushrooms in question.
And so he wanders idly, searching for any sliver of moon-white mushrooms, his focus sharp and honed-- until the sound of a quiet crunch in the distance catches his ear, and not the sort that could be mistaken for leaves.
"...Who is there?" he calls out into the woods, voice monotonous and flat as he searches for a shadow between the trees.
Bringing Pets:
- Eik (Dancing Chain) - Yr (Dancing Chain)
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Post by Mubashir on Feb 28, 2023 22:16:31 GMT -5
Was that....was that his conscious? It sounded so blasé, perhaps a tree was speaking to him. Wait, no... Who was that... Beautiful person wandering the woods. The golden eyes, the porcelain skin, it was as though a vase grew legs and put on a fancy outfit. They looked....delicious. The urge to bite them was overwhelming, but alas even a single mar to their perfect skin would be an affront to Lunala herself. Resist. Be nice, maybe theyll just give you some blood next time they bleed! He kicks the bug off of his foot, brushes off his robe and approaches from behind a tree.
"Ah, hello! That would be me. My apologiess for the disturbance, a ssmall ssurprisse, nothing to worry over. Who, might I assk, are you? I mysself, am Mubasshir the Magnifiscent! At your sservice." He says, taking off his turban and giving a deep bow. "You would not happen to know of the way out of thiss twissted foresst would you? I musst have been wandering for hourss, you would sswear I had passsed the same lantern bulb and musshroom patch a thoussand times." Fitting the turban back onto his head, he gives the beautiful person a wide toothy smile. He hoped he would not have to enthrall them to get out, but it had worked with Vakker!
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Post by Askr Mimameith on Mar 1, 2023 1:53:31 GMT -5
There are a few key lessons Askr has learned in his time as a mercenary.
The majority of them pertain to combat, to knowing the balance between understanding your enemy and the way their mind works and understanding yourself-- a number of them, still, focus on attempting to grasp the complexity of social encounters, of knowing when it is appropriate to speak and when it is not, knowing the nuances of another person's face. The most significant of all of them, however, is the one that had been hammered into his skull over and over-- the best weapon you have is your wariness. No one is entitled to your trust.
It is the lesson that has taught him to brandish his sword as soon as he detects an unfamiliar presence where there should be none-- and yet, this time, as Askr's gaze finally settles on the source of the noise, as he surveys the strange, mustachioed man before him, he makes no movement to reach for his blade. Instead, he merely watches-- merely listens to the hissing chatter of the man, nodding silently to himself as he processes every word.
"...Mubashir," he repeats, sounding the name out aloud. "...Mister Mubashir. My name is Askr."
He offers no further information, because doing so is unnecessary.
"...I have a vague idea. Of... how to leave, I mean," he says, already starting to take a few steps back toward the way he came. "...I am not... from here, but I should be able to lead you out, sir."
And yet, just as he turns to continue walking-- a distant buzzing, loud and relentless, the sound thrumming through the air. It is not the first time Askr has heard it today; in fact, there has been an unusual amount of that odd noise sounding from between the trees of the forest.
"...more buzzing," he muses quietly. "I did not realize the Moonglade had insects so loud."
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Post by Mubashir on Mar 1, 2023 2:08:27 GMT -5
Man this guy is weird. I mean...He had specifically said Mubashir the Magnificent! not Mister Mubashir. Pshah, whatever. He supposed it was ever pretty persons right to get a title wrong every once in a while. Though he did bring up a good point, these bugs were getting more annoying than usual.
"Oh yeah... Thosse thingss are craszy! I jusst sstepped on one and it wass ass big ass my foot." he hissed, warily looking around for more of the offending creatures. Finding none, despite the noise seemingly getting louder, his frustration began to become apparent. "Why don't we ahhh... go ahead and get out of ahere. One can barely find the peasce of mind to think!" To be fair, it did take his mind off the fact that he had been called a leech earlier today, but that was just replacing one malfeasance with another. The buzzing was deafening now, despite no sign of giant activity in the immediate area. It was as though it was directly behind him, but every time he turned around there was nothing. With one final act of desperation, he spins around quickly in place. This agitates the insect climbing inside of his red billowy cape enough to cause it to finally bite into his hairless ass before jumping off. Apparently, the juices still remaining on his shoes were of enough interest to bugs of its kind that they had began to follow the scent to its source.
"AUGH! ASsKR! Ssheet, what jusst bit me?!"
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Post by Askr Mimameith on Mar 16, 2023 2:26:31 GMT -5
Askr could hardly call himself knowledgeable about insects.
He is hardly knowledgeable about many things at all, in truth-- combat is his first language, the feeling of a sword in his hand easier to understand than anything else about the world, but he does not encounter many insects at all. He has heard of several monstrous ones out there across the nations; there are giant beetles and centipedes, moths the size of house cats, strange insects of countless colors, so on and so forth, but he could not accurately say where they hail from. He has hardly heard of insects native to the Moonglade that are as big as an adult man's feet before, but such ignorance could be chalked up to a lack of encounters.
Still, if Mister Mubashir seems so put off by the insects, perhaps they are... not normal. It is hard to say, as the other man is clearly not from the Moonglade, but Askr knows it is best to be on guard anyway.
"They must be large bugs," he muses unhelpfully before nodding at Mubashir's insistence that they should turn and find their way out of the woods. He is starting to doubt that he can find those mushrooms here, anyway-- leaving the forest now to gather more information may ultimately yield better results. "Then... let us get going."
And yet, he pauses in place before going anywhere, that quiet choir of buzzing growing ever louder, ever more irritated, and then--
And then Mubashir screeches in pain, and Askr flinches.
It is instinct to reach for his sword, fingers wrapping around the hilt and drawing it easily, glancing around the glade for any sign of those odd insects. He narrows his eyes, stepping forward to glance behind Mubashir, searching for any oddities-- and his gaze lands on the paradoxically large and small silhouette of quickly-beating wings, an insect hovering by Mubashir's shoulder, its mandibles snapping.
It is a strange thing to go after an insect with a weapon as bulky as a blade, but Askr does not hesitate to dive forward anyway, his blade cleaving through the insect's form in one quick motion, blood splashing against the grass as its bisected form hits the ground. And yet, despite the creature's death, the choir of buzzing does not stop-- no, instead, it grows ever louder.
"...Mister Mubashir," he murmurs, his hold on his weapon tightening. "I do hope you are equipped for a fight."
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Post by Mubashir on Mar 16, 2023 7:44:56 GMT -5
“A Fight?! Oh, oh dear iss that them? No, No I am not prepared for a sscuffle, both of my assisstantss are on holiday!”
The bugs had followed the scent from all directions, dozens of them emerged from the undergrowth and even from the leaves above. Disgusting skittering creatures with six legs and mandibles only a mother could love. Society would reject any offering of peace with these creatures, as they would in turn, and the angry chittering indicated that they were ready to eat them both alive. Mubashir cowed behind Askr, though there was no safe space from the horde. It was only through sheer panic that he managed to eat the candy that he had acquired, and feeling the ice cold power surge through him cast the sigil to affect the creepy crawlies. 1. The grass surrounding them crisped up as frost crept along the blades. Even Mubashir shivered as most of the insects began to become affected by it, creaks and cracks as they moved indicating parts of the Chitin had begun to freeze. Hopefully Askr would make easy work, else their death in this forest would speak no secrets. “Get them away, get them away! Pleasse I beg of you” Sheer Cold: A chill fills the air as you make it begin to snow. The area drops several degrees in temperature as it begins to get incredibly cold. Anyone in the area will begin to be effected by the cold, finding it hard to move, hold on to their weapons or even just function. Their movement become incredibly slow and their skin fragile. During this time any damage they take from blades or blunt weapons will be increased in addition to it being hard to hold onto their own weapons.
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Post by Askr Mimameith on Apr 4, 2023 21:02:23 GMT -5
It is not unsurprising that this Mubashir stranger seems so reluctant to do any close-quarters fighting against the onslaught of insects-- it would be wrong to call the man feeble, of course, considering his height, but his build attests to that of a mage's, lacking the muscle defined by familiarity with combat, devoid of the callouses that define hands made to hold a weapon. Askr can hardly talk, of course, considering his own more diminutive stature, but he has the excuse of artificiality, his flesh and bone and blood all synthesized by divine hands-- his is a body he has still barely learned to make his own.
Some might call the way Mubashir ducks behind Askr comedic-- he hardly has a concept of such a thing to begin with, but he is aware that most would find it amusing that a man of Mubashir's stature would seek refuge in the shadow of a man nearly a foot shorter than him. Askr does not mind being used as a shield in the slightest, of course, though even he cannot help but be concerned with how adequately he can shield the other man.
"...Yes, sir," he says all the same, his eyes narrowing just slightly as he watches the way the insects slow in mid-air, a golden light surging around the hand holding his weapon, the hilt slowly lifting from the safety of his fingers. [1] In seconds, his blade floats a short distance from his hand, mimicking every motion of his arm, surging forward to bisect more of the vicious insects with a single gesture, their chitinous forms falling in pieces to the ground beneath, unable to elude its sharp swing with the bitter cold wrapped around them.
He pauses as soon as he's made his way through part of the swarm, as soon as more insects' blood adorns his blade-- despite the number of them he's cleaved through, the madman's choir of buzzing has yet to fall silent. How many are there...?
"...this is an abnormal number of insects," he points out helpfully. "No matter..."
[1] Telekinesis
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Post by Mubashir on Apr 19, 2023 5:01:12 GMT -5
His eyes closed as the Smooth Man began his counter assault. It was impressive, but not enough. More crawled closer with the fresh scent of insect juices now coating the area. One crawled atop Mubashirs pointed shoe in order to bite him, only to be sent flying when he squealed and kicked it away. “Shoo! Shoo! Shoo!” He cried, as his arms waved about. A sigil appeared with the movements, showing that they werent random flails. No, it was simply a hasty casting of a very wide spell. With a push, he activated the glowing runes in the air, causing them to dissipate into the surrounding magical veil. Moments later, sand began to form from the earth around them, filling the air just as the buzzing had once before. Full force, the howling gale of a sandstorm forming out of naught but the pure magical will of Mubashir. The insects song began to be drowned out by the sheer volume of whistling sand through the trees. Mubashir could be seen weaving another web of runes, this time targeting one of the bugs. Chains erupted from the ground to grasp an insect that had the poor fortune of flying too closely to him. They burned it’s wings as it cried in distress. If bugs could know fear, then this was a message. Controlled Sandstorm Scerns God Killer
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Post by Askr Mimameith on Jun 22, 2023 20:38:06 GMT -5
There aren’t many things that can catch Askr off guard in the heart of a battle.
Of course, there’s sneak attacks– no matter how prepared one thinks they are to face something, there will always be the unpredictability of stealth and shadow there to throw you off. There’s unpredictable uses of otherwise predictable items and powers, turncoats in the heart of combat– those, too, warrant far more than a mere raised eyebrow. Even so, those are expected strangenesses; it is rare for battle to be a clash of swords and nothing more, after all. But amidst all of those experiences, through shadowed blades and improvised tactics and sudden betrayals, Askr does not think he has ever witnessed something as odd as channeling unfathomably powerful magic to slay a single insect.
And yet, that is precisely what Mubashir is doing– using fire and chains to lock down one of the bugs, its wings incinerated by the brutal heat, the embers–, and it’s enough to almost make Askr stop what he’s doing and stare.
Huh.
That’s never happened before.
Even so, this is not a time or place he can safely stop what he’s doing– he rears to life once more as he processes one of the insects crawling around on the sleeve of his shirt, seeking a vulnerable spot. Askr moves quickly to brush it aside, following the gesture up with another clean strike of his sword– it perishes quickly, falling to the ground as little more than a lifeless husk. He’s beginning to feel slightly less ridiculous for slaying insects with a sword, now.
Slightly.
Mubashir’s spells clearly seem to be helping, though, as the numbers dwindle, the earth littered with more husks, nearly drowning out the dirt. Askr is not sure if there is an end to this, but there is a window for escape.
“...Mister Mubashir,” he calls, voice astoundingly flat. “We should take the chance to head out of here. We’ve handled a vast number of the bugs.”
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Post by Mubashir on Aug 28, 2023 12:47:59 GMT -5
“Eh-heh, right you are!” Mubashir said nervously, still shaking with mana and adrenalin at his most recent castings. That one bug had really spooked him, but it was dealt with now he supposed. They glared at each other for a moment, himself and the bug wrapped in the chains of hells itself, before putting two fingers into his mouth. The sound that came out was not in fact a whistle, more of a spittling wheeze, as Mubashir did not know how to whistle like that. And yet, the carpet was summoned all the same, flying it’s way through the sandstorm to the mundane magicians beck and call. “Ack!” He said, swatting off another of the something-o-pods “Quickly! Before my rug needss more mothballss than my uncles sweaterss!” Climbing aboard, he sat down cross-legged and gripped onto the corners of the rug, which only sealed his fate. You see, his bony-butt cheeks had all but sat directly on the gaping maw of the mother-in-law insect that he had bound earlier. Her jaw snapped tight on his glutes, causing him to lose concentration on the sandstorm he had been conjuring, as well as yank sharply up on the rug. The resulting conundrum sent the rug, as well as the vampire, flying up through the canopy into the freshly revealed sun, where he quickly evaporated into naught but a sexy pile of bones.
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Post by Askr Mimameith on Aug 28, 2023 13:31:18 GMT -5
Askr blinks.
It would be a lie to say it takes quite a bit to surprise him-- he is constantly learning, always surprised by the new experiences the world throws his way, the new and foreign Feelings he proves to be capable of through them. It is rare for combat to stun him, of course, given he steps into every fight aware that no opponent is the same, that each one will have a different trick prepared, but he is not immune to being taken off guard.
And as he watches Mubashir get launched up through the canopy of leaves draped over them both and a pile of slightly crispy bones fall right back down, he can say quite accurately that he has been taken off guard.
Did... did he just witness a man die?
Askr stands completely still for a moment, staring at the remnants of what was once Mubashir the Magnificent, as if he is uncertain if he is seeing things correctly-- as if, perhaps, he has misinterpreted what just happened, and the man he'd just been speaking to will step back out and run back through the woods to his prior destination, leaving the chittering insects vying for his blood behind. But as the seconds trickle by, no other voice sounds through the trees, and the bugs' attention returns to the only one left, and--
Well. Askr inhales sharply, and lets his blade do the rest.
It takes a while to clear out the remainder of the bugs, and by the end of it, he is hardly unscathed, his own clothing stained with his own gilded blood, but he hardly even flinches as he turns and walks through the unmoving husks his blade left behind, uncertain of what he should do about those bones in the woods.
He picks up a few of them in his arms, trying to handle them as gently as he can, and he continues his walk through the forest, hoping to find a place in the Lantern Light Wood where no sun falls and no bugs chitter, where maybe this strange man can, at last, rest.
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