A note for 'Blaze' Whiteclaw

[Blaze]

She had half a mind to allow Mushal to rip this males throat out, or even do it herself. She did not back down however when he bumped his nose to hers. Unknown to her, since she had never been in a real relationship, but their behavior could be easily taken as a lovers quarrel.

Blaze uttered an inhuman snarlish growl and reached up to grab the front of his tunic in her fist. All he did was talk. Talk talk talk. Aggravation.

With her free hand she reached up and pulled down the mask from her face so he could see her anger fully. Her dark purple lips were pulled back from her teeth in a sneer as she kept them bared, "Why me."

[valrae]

He raised an eyebrow as she grabbed him by the front of his outfit, clamping the leather of his top and the tabard together in her fist. She was STRONG, he realized... He hadn't been sure if her leathers had seemed a little wide because they were padded, like some people sometimes wore them, but now he knew it was all muscle.

Her mask came down and he could see the anger clearly imprinted in her eyes and mouth. ...Now things were getting serious, a bit. He felt himself tensing, felt the adrenaline at last start to seep into his system, but forced himself to relax. He spoke his next words slowly and carefully.

"Em. I'm surprised you don't know this, but it's actually a very bad idea to grab me that way. From the point of contact you made there-" He looked down at her balled fist on his chest "There are about sixteen ways I can have you flat on your back, If you can pardon the expression."

"Number one, the easiest, is with your right arm towards my center like so, I can move my arm up and push on your right shoulder while I twist my torso. When you move your feet to try to rebalance, I trip you with this." He tapped her left foot with his right, where he had slid it during her move on him.

"I'd show, rather than tell, but I get the impression I'd get mauled by your friend there. And then I wouldn't be able to make the antidote for your father. So."

He slid his foot back with an apologetic shrug. "I can't let that happen. I told you I don't want to hurt you. And I don't want to hurt your father, either. I'm just trying to save my own life, and to do that I need your help."

"To answer your question, I chose you because I knew how to leverage you, and I knew you had the experience and seasoning to help me. It's about that simple."

[Blaze]

She continued to listen to him talk talk talk, and found it amazing still with the amount of WORDS people used most times could still manage to say nearly nothing. Her eyes stayed narrowed, and she carefully weighed his every word and gesture. It was perhaps to her advantage he didn't realize how trained her companion was. The tiger was there until she granted him release and not before.

Rook spoke with a familiarity about her she did not like. She purposefully avoided getting close to people so they didn't get chance to know her so well. Here she was meeting this elf for the first time, and yet he acted as if he hunted with her many times over.

Still, she had not released his tunic, and when she replied her tone was laced with poison sugar, "If this was another time, and you were another male, I would almost think you were offering yourself to me. That is, if you had followed through." Like all too many humanoid males he was obviously more talk and little action. The disgust of it danced in her eyes for a moment as she considered him.

Her hand coiled tighter around his tunic the leather softly squeaking with the twist, her words now a low growl, "How did you know. How do you know me!"

[valrae]

His turn to be confused.

"...Offering myself?" His eyebrows crinkled, trying to guess which of the possible meanings she intended. The obvious one was.. Obvious..

"Mmm. An interesting suggestion. Alas, it's not another time and I'm not another, ah.. male. So that matter will have to stay undecided. I have been told I have a passing decent follow-through, though."

He smiled and cocked his head a little, thinking.

"Number two, by the way, is I spit in your eyes."

Instead he blew gently into her face, his breath cinnamony from the flavored water-breathing potion he had consumed earlier for his work under the ship.

"This can be followed up by nearly anything. There's a reason my blades are sheathed on my back as well. I can still draw from the position we're in. Also with your arm up, your flank is exposed."

He reached up casually and pressed a finger gently into her side, underneath the arm that held his tunic.

"Just like that." He smiled. "So it's good we're friends, or you'd be bleeding quite a lot right now. And then you couldn't help me open my chest. And I can't let that happen."

"But. As for how I know you? I don't. I know about you; a few questions and a few coins go a long way in a place like Auberdine. I've seen you before, with you father, but this is the closest we've ever been. I had to take a bit of a gamble on you but I'm happy to say you don't disappoint. Not at all."

[Blaze]

Was he trying to joke with her? "I have been told I have a passing decent follow-through, though." Her expression didn't change, except for a faint amused twitch of her lips as she privately thought her response to that. Then those people have probably lied.

When he blew into her face she blinked at the unexpectedness of it, both the action and the smell. It was how you got a horse familiar with you. She was no horse but the action still imprinted more of his scent into her brain then she cared to have. The burning returned to her cheeks, but this time they were not covered by her mask.

At his touch her jaw twitched and she found herself holding her breath for twenty-six seconds. As long as it took him to finish talking.

When he was done, all she had to do was glance down to where her dagger was aimed neatly at his inner thigh. A man of his knowledge would know there was a major artery there as well. One mistake and he too would be bleeding quite a lot. She knew how to bleed out more then just pigs.

Blaze smirked and sheathed her dagger, but not before drawing the flat end of the blade lightly along his thigh.

"To your box."

[valrae]

His mouth quirked as he followed the direction of her eyes, and caught the glint of her blade.

"Hm? ...Oh, very good." A broad smile broke out across his face. "Very, very good!" The muscles of his back twitched involuntarily and he drew in a breath as she slid the blade over a sensitive part of his thigh and he bit his lip lightly at the ticklish, buzzy sensation.

"I knew you were one to watch. No more freebies from here on out." He smiled.

"To your box."

"Chest."

He looked up at the sky.

"It's far from here. The where is my business, but it's about two days. I have provisions for us, but we'll need transportation. Before you ask, it isn't wise to take a gryphon. I have a saber at the stables, but unless you feel like riding double you'll need something as well. If you don't have anything, with luck we may find something other than those damned goats the Dwarves like to ride."

He glanced at the hand she ((presumably)) still held his front with, then back up to her face.

"...Are you going to let me go, or did you want a hug?"


((*Edit: Don't drink and post, kids. I promise I'll stop ninja-editing as soon as I stop making dumb mistakes. >.> ))

[Blaze]

Mushal's nose twitched as he caught the subtle new scent his mistress gave off. It was so faint only an animal would notice. He knew it very well and it made his flanks twitch and his tail swish low. Then he looked to the male she was still so close to with a new dislike. It was usually around this time she would send him away, back to the Astral Plane and when he came back she would smell like the male she had been with. Mushal growled.

"...Are you going to let me go, or did you want a hug?"

Blaze blinked and released him very quickly, rubbing her hand on her thigh as if it was somehow covered in something she could wipe off. Her eyes fell from his and she glanced at Mushal a moment.

"I have a saber."

[valrae]

Rook stepped back and smoothed out the front of his tunic as she released him. "Ah. Pity."

He smiled sweetly and turned, looking around briefly, checking for eyes. It seemed like their little altercation had gone unremarked by most. Menethil was a port town after all, and while it was no Booty Bay it'd still take more than an invasion of personal space and a few hissed words in Darnassian to turn many heads around here.

He turned back to Blaze in time to hear her say she had a mount. He nodded. "Excellent. Then I'm off to the stables to get my tack ready. Follow if you wish, or I'll meet you there if you've got other things to take care of." He turned and headed into the town.

He began humming to himself. He liked this one. He really did. Enough to be distracted sufficently to lose track of what one of her hands had been doing long enough for her to put a dagger next to a kill area. He shook his head and tsk-tsk'd to himself. He'd been concentrating on the feel of her side, where his finger was. That had been silly of him. But he'd loved the look on her face afterwards, so maybe it was worth a little embarassment on his part.

That and not once had she complained. Despite all her questions -the answers to which he owed her, and would have told to make sure she understood the rules of the game- she had not appealed to him to stop, or to choose someone else. She was intelligent, confident and capable... (Perhaps too much of the last) ...and so adorable when she blushed.

He snerked and grinned wickedly as he rounded on the door to the stables.

This was going to be so much fun.

[Blaze]

Blaze was upset, and in so many ways she couldn't quite decide which particular reason to focus on first. Besides of course this Kaldorei using her father as his personal fishing lure for her. That was first. But after that.

Mushal watched his mistress as she stood in the room upstairs inside the inn, putting on her battle armor. It awakened an excitement within him because it meant they would be hunting soon. Just the two of them as he preferred it. Sharing the hunt with her and working together. A low purr rumbled in his chest, the other male and the days frustrations all but forgotten.

Blaze dressed with sharp movements, yet each piece was still put on with a small amount of ceremony as she locked every item into its proper place. The chain mail was certain to fall a specific way and make just the right sound.

She scruffed her fingers through her thick dark blue hair which was poorly hacked short so that it hung in a shaggy mess around her face. With a couple flicks and a brush of her fingers it somehow managed to lay back away out of her eyes just enough. She glanced at her menacing helm which lay last upon the bed. Its horns curling upward , finely linked mail spread out at the base like a demonic halo of metal. The front was fashioned into a skull of sorts which she liked just fine. Anything to detract from what lie beneath.

Blaze ruffled Mushal's ears but her touch was distracted and it caused the large cat to miss a beat in his purring. He knew something wasn't right. She turned from him and picked up her helm. As she placed it firmly upon her head she rolled her shoulders and checked the sit of the impossibly large one handed sword on her back. All was ready.

With a sigh she looked at Mushal, "Let us see where he is taking us."

Walking by the tiger Blaze left the inn and made her way toward the stables, Mushal close on her heels.

[Blaze]

((P.S. I was waiting and hoping perhaps Amboro would jump in again, but I can only wait so long, this is so fun and exciting!))

[valrae]

Rook had his mount saddled by the time Blaze arrived. He stood in the shade next to a black and white striped Nightsaber, chatting with one of the dwarven stablehands. The riding saber flicked her tail impatiently, claws extending into the dirt. She was anxious to move after being cooped up so long. To be out of her stall but forced to remain still was irritating. Rook rubbed behind her ear calmingly and continued his conversation, half-leaning against the big cat's powerful shoulder.

He looked up at Blaze's approach and excused himself mid-sentence, straightening up and padding over to meet her, Nightsaber following in his wake.

"Hello again." He smiled warmly. "Meet my good friend Arineva." He patted the saber. "Neva, meet Blaze. ...at least I think that's her under there."

His nightsaber looked up at him quizically, blinking large golden eyes.

He chuckled, and took a moment to look over the huntress' gear. He let out a low whistle, shaking his head. "I really can't imagine how anyone can move in all that." He shrugged. "But you do make it look good."

Tapping Arineva between the shoulderblades to get her to crouch he swung a leg over her back and let her stand up again beneath him, lifting him off the ground and putting him in the saddle.

"Ready when you are," he said. "We head east for starters, along the road through wetlands."

[Blaze]

Blaze gave him an appreciative look, glad to see he hadn't disappeared on her, then glanced at his mount and made a noise deep within her throat to the panther in greeting.

She took out a palm sized cat statue from her pocket and whispered to it. "Sui'ali, come to me." In moments a well armored stormsaber appeared beneath her in a wispy cloud of sparkling mist. In the same mist, Mushal disappeared.

Her shoulder armor crackled with sparks of lightening and she smirked to his comment. He didn't let up it seemed. Talk talk talk.

Without a word she nudged her panther toward Rook, but stopped about a lengths distance apart from him and nodded ahead for him to get moving.

[valrae]

Arineva chuffled in response to Blaze's greeting, swinging her head around to look as her. Rook smiled and patted his mount's head. "Hey... Don't say anything bad about me," he instructed the cat with a grin.

After a quick look over his shoulder to make sure Blaze was ready to follow he hissed a command through his teeth and snapped the silk reigns and the cat sprang forward like a shot. Ecstatic at the prospect of the open road ahead, the big animal shouldered her way narrowly around a cart as it entered the city gates and Rook's departure from Menethil was punctuated by a half-dozen elaborate Dwarven curses as he waved merrily over his shoulder.

The feeling of the wind rushing in his face was beautiful, like being at sea, and he let Neva work her frustrations out on the road for a mile or two before reigning her back to a more appropriate pace. The cat knew enough to follow the road on her own, so he let his hands off the reigns and relaxed, letting his eyes roam the passing countryside in what was part sightseeing, and part alert wariness.

[Guest Amboro]

((I didn't expect this much all in just one day! Argh! Well sorry for not getting on sooner, was disrtaced by family, and the fact I finally got my tattoo today as well. And it was very sweet of you trying to stall for me Blaze, now I shall post!))

Amboro watch and listened as best he could from behind the stack of barrels. His anger always on the edge ready to explode he disliked the man named Rook as much as the huntress's tiger did. Seeing the two taking off to where ever he quickly sprung to his hoofs and rushed to the inn's front to try and figure out where his own mount had gone.

Looking down to the semi-wet dirt he saw no other set of tracks but his own and th steeds which meant he hadn't tied the horse well enough to the post. Letting out a relieved sigh he turned to where the Elves had taken off from and snorted. Lacing his hands together he concentrated on his inner Light, and the inner Light of his mount. Slowly he tried to reach out to the horse slowly at first so not to startle the animal but enough so the beast knew it had wandered off and the Paladin was happy about it.

Opening his good eye and unlaced his hands as quick and heavy hoof beats sounded in the air in front of him at the towering horse ran toward it's master. The Draenei could smell the scent of another horse besides the one of his own and sighed. The mount would get him in troubled yet. Shaking his head at the large steed and put a hoof into a stirrup and pulled himself up with ease despite all the armor weight the two down.

Turning the reigns to where both Elves had left form he followed their trail at a moderate pace trying to stay out of ear and eye shot of the pair. Though still in scent range so the tiger knew he was around. Amboro wanted the Huntress to know he was there ready to serve and properly serve her like honor demanded.

[Blaze]

Sui'ali was trained to know what each subtle movement of Blaze's thighs meant. She didn't have to say a word, or use any reigns in the panthers mouth. Her hands rested lightly on the horn of her saddle.

Blaze kept the panther half a breast to the side of from Rook, and almost a length back. She wanted to be ready for any sudden change of direction on his part.

Once Sui'ali had his direction he was intelligent enough to keep the exact distance asked of him, allowing Blaze to fall off into her own little world once again.

She never knew her father very well. She had been so young when she was brought to him after the fall of their home any of her memories were hazy. Sometimes she thought she could hear his laughter, or feel his hand on the top of her head before she woke from a dream. But whenever she went to see him, the broken elf that he had become all the memories became crushed under her pain. Why she even bothered to visit him was beyond her. She didn't go to see her mother's spirit more then once a year.

Her sight faded back to this Rook fellow and she grimaced. While he was offering a threat to her father, did he know he was offering peace as well? Is that why she hadn't gutted the cocky rogue yet? She needed time to think about what was best, and who it would be best for. She slumped in her saddle pulling off her helm and closing her eyes. The wind blew over her face like a caressing hand and she welcomed it.

A faint thought passed her mind that she would not likely get in her moonlit bath and she scowled. Not knowing where she was going bothered her in this case since a stranger was leading her around. How long would she be with him? He had said her father had a couple days yet. With any luck with box wouldn't be far, and she could get back to her normal life.

[valrae]

Time passed quickly in the saddle, and it was late afternoon by the time they reached the mountains. The setting sun's reflection sparked fire off the waters of the swamp as they left it behind, and rode up the increasingly steep and winding road that led dowards Loch Modan.

Rook let Arineva slow to a walk before hopping off just out of sight of the tunnel that led through the pass. Crouching by the saber's side he clamped one of his waterskins in his mouth, letting the contents pour into his two cupped hands for the saber to lap up.

"Coming up on Dun Algaz," he said around the bag in his teeth. "Orcs are still thick like goblin gumbo up there. Letting Neva rest a bit so we can push through fast. If we have to fight we fight, but I'd rather just move through."

When the waterskin was empty he patted the saber and set about rechecking his gear, loosening his blades in their scabbards and unfolding the arms on his compact crossbow.

"Of course if we pop one or two on the way, that's fine as well."


((While in game terms either Rook or Blaze could entirely wreck every orc up there, shall we say for purposes of this RP that they would pose a mild threat? Keeps life interesting. ))

[Blaze]

A sharp squeeze of Blaze's thighs and her mount stopped dead behind the other with an agitated snort and swish of its its tail. Sui'ali's round furry ears swiveled forward and back perhaps hearing the far off orcs. Blaze sat high in her saddle and listened as well as Rook tended to his mount. She nodded vaguely to his words her eyes squinted and jaw tight.

Orcs, she didn't like them much. Smelled just as bad as ogres though at least they didn't defecate everywhere. As fast as she was on her feet, able to even give some rogues a run for their money with her battle dance, she still wasn't a rogue. The orcs hit hard and though usually she would walk away the victor it was at a painful cost.

"Make camp by the lake?" she inquired easing back into her saddle carefully to make sure all her armor relaxed in the right manner for optimum comfort.

She knew that no matter where he was taking her, it would be better to make camp in Dun Algaz then in any of the areas they could be approaching afterward. Plus it had a lake.

Blaze pushed on her helm and fixed her now glowing blue eyes on the elf tending to his mount, still keeping alert, still trying to read more from him then he was telling her with his million words.

[valrae]

"The loch, yes. We could press on as far as Thelsamar, but I figured you'd prefer stars and water to Dwarf holes."

He stretched and scanned the cliffside critically, thumbs hooked around the pommels of his weapons. The jovial smile was off his face for once, but he didn't seem nervous. Just taut and alert.

"All right," he said at last. "Here comes the fun."

He mounted and rubbed Arivena's neck affectionately before hissing and snapping the reigns. The cat took off with renewed wind, quickly closing the distance to the first tunnel and plunging in.

High in the hills above a horn began to sound.

Rook peered ahead through the tunnel as the saber raced along it, claws clicking against the stone.

Just outside the far end an Orc sentry was getting blearily to his feet, caught napping in the afternoon sun. The greenskin saw the onrushing saber and shouted a challenge, leveling a long-hafted spear.

Neva roared in response, the noise filling the stone passageway. Rook kept his head down to present as little wind resistance as possible. His glowing eyes fixed on the sentry and his hand went to his weapon.

The Orc held his ground, snarling red-eyed as he braced the end of the spear between a gap in the stone cobbles. He crouched as elf and nightsaber bore down on him, then grunted in surprise as the wide point of Rook's crossbow bolt smashed his collarbone. Arineva danced around the wavering end of spear, and Rook leaned halfway out of the saddle (the metal speartip sliding by inches below his adomen) to lash out savagely with his blade, letting momentum carry the steel deep into the Orc's neck and jerk it free again as the saber raced past untouched. By the time the Orc stumbled off his feet and slumped to the ground, Rook's weapon was back in it's scabbard.

Arineva burst into the valley between the tunnels at full dash. Orcish grunts were running in from the encampment to the side, but not nearly quickly enough, and Rook merely guided Neva around them. The archers in the hills were another matter, however, and Rook heard the whistles of falling arrows as they sought to bring him and the cat down. Their target was far and fast however, and while Rook thought he felt one of the missiles nip the very end of one of his long ears, both cat and elf made it through unscathed.

Rook anxiously peered along the inside of the second tunnel, and found it clear. The dwarven Mountaineers will still doing half of their job, at least. He reigned up in the dark safety of the passageway and looked back to see how Blaze was faring.

[Blaze]

Glancing back Rook might have thought Blaze had been struck off her mount, but upon closer inspection would reveal the huntress hanging on the side of her cat using its hide as protection. She had her leg hooked in some sort of custom rig in the animals armor which allowed her to hang off the side and still aim and shoot with her bow at the orcs in the hills. Random orcs fell with a blood curdling cry toppling into the rocks of the mountain. Not every arrow hit home, and a skilled eye may note she didn't seem overly adept using the weapon as one of her class should be.

She hung off the side of the panther after she was done shooting, only to look upside down at the other side to make sure there was no viable threat ready to attack on that side. When everything was clear enough to her satisfaction she slid back into the saddle properly, putting her bow back into place and snarled as she pounded her way into the tunnel behind Rook.

When she came to a stop she was panting heavily, still glancing over her shoulder. Jutting out of her thigh however was an arrow she only just seemed to notice when she looked back to Rook. The arrow was deeply embedded in the side of her upper thigh. Already there were red trails of blood seeping from the wound. Grunting she swayed in her saddle and barred her teeth.

"Hurts."

[valrae]

Rook swore under his breath as he saw the arrow and the look on Blaze's face. He spurred Neva over to her side.

"I said you wouldn't get hurt.. You just had to make me eat my words, didn't you..." He looked at her guiltily then glanced anxiously at the tunnel entrance, where the noise of the pursuing Orcs was echoing louder.

"We can't stop here... Ride up and out, there should be Mountaineers stationed at the other side." An Orcish head peered into the entrance of the tunnel and Rook fired, the bolt sparking off the stone by the creature's head as it hurriedly ducked back.

"I don't think they'll follow us that far." He recocked the weapon and seated another bolt. "You go first. I'll be right behind."