Stupid mountains. Stupid X’ogun. Stupid electric puffballs - who ever heard of this! Magic THINGS just floating! The Outside world was crazy. And stupid. Stupid and crazy and also stupid but not as stupid as X’ogun and his stupid orders. Who put HIM in charge! Stupid Vurr and her being reasonable and patient all the time. Though she was usually right.
But she was tired of being reasonable and patient. She was a Warrior! More than that, she was a FALLEN, one of X’zarann’s chosen!
She stopped, with a sudden, despairing sound. Where WAS X’zarann! She missed him so. Was he neglecting her because she hadn’t… no, don’t think of that. Vurr said it wasn’t a factor, that was her word, not a factor, that he had a plan, and he was busy.
Why couldn’t he be busy with her! She’d love to be busy with him. She’d keep him so busy, he wouldn’t have time for weird toys or old tombs or confusing plots or other huntresses…
“Gah, focus!†she growled, before resuming her pace. This place was full of cracks and traps, those funny walking rock monsters that looked like X’zam (only not as ugly, hah) and coeurls and silly, silly birds and those STUPID electric puff jerks. It took her forever to fix her tail after she killed that last one (though she DID kill it, blew it right up, BOOM!). Stupid puff jerk.
It was also full of floating rocks! That was actually really interesting. This seemed like the kind of place X’zarann would like. Floating rocks, and buildings, Outsider houses, tall and narrow, up on some of them. Some of them were very far out, but some of them she could almost reach. Jumping off one of those walls. This whole place looked like someone got mad and destroyed it, but it must have been a long time ago, because the only bodies were the ones she was making.
She did find traces of other hunting, and there was that scouting patrol, all in the silly really visible red clothes. Outsiders were so stupid! She saw them from malms away! It made hiding their bodies harder though (even dead they were stupid!), so she dragged them to the edge of that really high cliff and threw them as hard as she could. She wasn’t supposed to be making it TOO easy for anyone to track her. The rogadodos were hard to throw, but she still managed. She was Fallen, after all.
Her attention returned to the floating houses. How to reach? Maybe she should have kept one of those red Outsiders alive. Magic was weird and creepy and she wanted nothing to do with it except when it was really useful, like for making things fly apparently! Flying would be really useful. Maybe-
A sudden flash of light cut through her reverie like a spear through the brain, and she froze, watching. There! Excitement, tail slowly stirring, not making a sound as she sees…
What? This was her quarry? This tiny green thing?
She watched in disbelief as it waddled out from the shade of the wall where there had been nothing before. Waddled! It was as clumsy as a newborn kitten! It moved so slowly.. Why had X’ogun sent her to kill THIS useless thing? Was he mocking her? Sudden anger… but then, she remembered Vurr’s advice, and calmed herself. Patience. Think now. This thing must be dangerous. X’ogun was smart, he wouldn’t waste her on something that wasn’t important (he wouldn't dare!). But it looked so small and helpless that it was hard to take it seriously. She would kill it quickly and be done. Like a ghost, she moved closer. It heard nothing. It was even talking to itself! Killing something so stupid would be a mercy. She readied her lunge.
“...admixture of appropriate humours in the Crucible resulting in...â€
She froze, a chill running up her spine. What had it said? Had it said The Crucible?
“...aetherial investiture permitting heightened states of energy, albeit at the cost of… hmm?â€
She realized it had seen her. Those large, yellow eyes were not as blind as they looked. She expected it to flee, or attack, and cursed her inattention…
“Ah, one of the breeding females. With ritual tattooing? Or simply paint? The pre-intellectual tendencies adopted by animalistic breeds remain fascinating on a visceral level. Do the markings denote some rank in social echelon invisible among the males? No, unless signifiers of hierarchy operate on multiple levels. Scents, perhaps, or adornments. Perhaps the female can be made to volunteer an explanation. Well?â€
It stared at her. She stared back.
“What?â€
It threw its tiny arms up and she tensed, expecting magic, but then it flopped down onto the ground and flailed. She stared at it some more.
“Alas! Once more and in seemingly uninterruptible pattern my genius is constrained by the cranial limits of fractionally-witted thugs, far better suited to bearing litters of offspring with their exaggerated bosoms and improperly suggestive thigh gaps than to contributing even so little as an unlettered student's share of intellectual discourse - what was I thinking! Alas I was not, unfortunately, for clearly the onus rests solely upon me in this company, nay perhaps this entire age. Oh, what a- ouch!!â€
She had initially begun to preen as her breeding qualities were praised, but had grown increasingly bored as the small green thing rambled on, and ON.. and so finally she got bored and knocked it in the big, round head with the butt of her spear. To make it stop, but also because it was funny. Then, for good measure, she kicked it onto its back (“oof!†Hee hee!) and poked its belly with the sharp tip of her weapon. It gasped. She grinned.
“Stupid green tiny Outsider! Tell me more about The Crucible!†She had had what others would call an epiphany, which was not a word she knew. X’ogun had sent her to kill this tiny, useless Outsider because it knew things. Things about The Crucible.
Things she wanted to know. She would know everything it knew, before she killed it.
How much could a stupid little Outsider know, anyway?
But she was tired of being reasonable and patient. She was a Warrior! More than that, she was a FALLEN, one of X’zarann’s chosen!
She stopped, with a sudden, despairing sound. Where WAS X’zarann! She missed him so. Was he neglecting her because she hadn’t… no, don’t think of that. Vurr said it wasn’t a factor, that was her word, not a factor, that he had a plan, and he was busy.
Why couldn’t he be busy with her! She’d love to be busy with him. She’d keep him so busy, he wouldn’t have time for weird toys or old tombs or confusing plots or other huntresses…
“Gah, focus!†she growled, before resuming her pace. This place was full of cracks and traps, those funny walking rock monsters that looked like X’zam (only not as ugly, hah) and coeurls and silly, silly birds and those STUPID electric puff jerks. It took her forever to fix her tail after she killed that last one (though she DID kill it, blew it right up, BOOM!). Stupid puff jerk.
It was also full of floating rocks! That was actually really interesting. This seemed like the kind of place X’zarann would like. Floating rocks, and buildings, Outsider houses, tall and narrow, up on some of them. Some of them were very far out, but some of them she could almost reach. Jumping off one of those walls. This whole place looked like someone got mad and destroyed it, but it must have been a long time ago, because the only bodies were the ones she was making.
She did find traces of other hunting, and there was that scouting patrol, all in the silly really visible red clothes. Outsiders were so stupid! She saw them from malms away! It made hiding their bodies harder though (even dead they were stupid!), so she dragged them to the edge of that really high cliff and threw them as hard as she could. She wasn’t supposed to be making it TOO easy for anyone to track her. The rogadodos were hard to throw, but she still managed. She was Fallen, after all.
Her attention returned to the floating houses. How to reach? Maybe she should have kept one of those red Outsiders alive. Magic was weird and creepy and she wanted nothing to do with it except when it was really useful, like for making things fly apparently! Flying would be really useful. Maybe-
A sudden flash of light cut through her reverie like a spear through the brain, and she froze, watching. There! Excitement, tail slowly stirring, not making a sound as she sees…
What? This was her quarry? This tiny green thing?
She watched in disbelief as it waddled out from the shade of the wall where there had been nothing before. Waddled! It was as clumsy as a newborn kitten! It moved so slowly.. Why had X’ogun sent her to kill THIS useless thing? Was he mocking her? Sudden anger… but then, she remembered Vurr’s advice, and calmed herself. Patience. Think now. This thing must be dangerous. X’ogun was smart, he wouldn’t waste her on something that wasn’t important (he wouldn't dare!). But it looked so small and helpless that it was hard to take it seriously. She would kill it quickly and be done. Like a ghost, she moved closer. It heard nothing. It was even talking to itself! Killing something so stupid would be a mercy. She readied her lunge.
“...admixture of appropriate humours in the Crucible resulting in...â€
She froze, a chill running up her spine. What had it said? Had it said The Crucible?
“...aetherial investiture permitting heightened states of energy, albeit at the cost of… hmm?â€
She realized it had seen her. Those large, yellow eyes were not as blind as they looked. She expected it to flee, or attack, and cursed her inattention…
“Ah, one of the breeding females. With ritual tattooing? Or simply paint? The pre-intellectual tendencies adopted by animalistic breeds remain fascinating on a visceral level. Do the markings denote some rank in social echelon invisible among the males? No, unless signifiers of hierarchy operate on multiple levels. Scents, perhaps, or adornments. Perhaps the female can be made to volunteer an explanation. Well?â€
It stared at her. She stared back.
“What?â€
It threw its tiny arms up and she tensed, expecting magic, but then it flopped down onto the ground and flailed. She stared at it some more.
“Alas! Once more and in seemingly uninterruptible pattern my genius is constrained by the cranial limits of fractionally-witted thugs, far better suited to bearing litters of offspring with their exaggerated bosoms and improperly suggestive thigh gaps than to contributing even so little as an unlettered student's share of intellectual discourse - what was I thinking! Alas I was not, unfortunately, for clearly the onus rests solely upon me in this company, nay perhaps this entire age. Oh, what a- ouch!!â€
She had initially begun to preen as her breeding qualities were praised, but had grown increasingly bored as the small green thing rambled on, and ON.. and so finally she got bored and knocked it in the big, round head with the butt of her spear. To make it stop, but also because it was funny. Then, for good measure, she kicked it onto its back (“oof!†Hee hee!) and poked its belly with the sharp tip of her weapon. It gasped. She grinned.
“Stupid green tiny Outsider! Tell me more about The Crucible!†She had had what others would call an epiphany, which was not a word she knew. X’ogun had sent her to kill this tiny, useless Outsider because it knew things. Things about The Crucible.
Things she wanted to know. She would know everything it knew, before she killed it.
How much could a stupid little Outsider know, anyway?
![[Image: MBLxxyE.gif]](http://i.imgur.com/MBLxxyE.gif)
