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Post by Gabjas on Mar 22, 2013 22:04:11 GMT -6
Prue was first to light down, the familiar click of her talons against the stone ground sounded. Owls of various levels of purity were milling about, some carried scrolls and some wore metal masks.
A Barn owl flitted up to the approaching party with a smile. "I see you have come to the Pure Ones, Roryk brought you here I presume?" she said with a nod to the Grass owl beside her.
"Come, come with me. I will see that you two Sooties have a chance to speak with the High Tytoness, Thalia." Prue nearly wilfed, shooting a worried glance towards Dianthe. "Alright." she gulped.
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Post by spice on Mar 22, 2013 22:11:36 GMT -6
Dianthe stepped forward, putting on her best excited face. "I cannot wait to meet the High Tyto!" she gushed, pouring on enthusiasm to counter Prue's near-wilf experience. She flew after the Barn Owl, trying to convey telepathy to Prue. It will be alright, she tried to send, Let me do all of the talking. She may recognize your voice.
Dianthe's eyes grew wide with wonder as they entered the cave. Though she had seen it many times before, the cavernous cave still amazed her. The barn owl noticed Dianthe's wide eye wonder and smiled. "It always makes me wondrous as well," the Barn Owl said. Dianthe nodded, keeping her act strong.
"When will we meet the High Tyto?" she asked, pour excitment into her voice to hide her revulsion. Though her gizzard clenched with each word, she said with fake excitement:
"I cannot wait to be a Pure One."
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Post by spice on Mar 23, 2013 9:09:35 GMT -6
Meanwhile, Kygoe paced back and forth within the cave, his mind swirling with evil plots. I could become the next High Tyto! he would plot silently, all the while sucking up to the High Tytoness. His brother, Barrath, was playing with his fresh-kill again.
"Stop that!" Kygoe commanded, the noise Barrath was making agitating Kygoe. Kygoe sighed angrily and went to the mouth of the cave, watching the setting moon. The sky was mostly dark, but near the edge of the land small indigo and violet streaks were beginning to appear.
Suddenly Kygoe saw four specks approaching the cave. The colonel and two other owls who appeared to be sooties. One of them was fairly pure, with more white feathers then the other. Kygoe turned to examine the other one, and a spark of recognition hit him. Who is THAT? he wondered, his frustration growing. His brain seemed not to be working again. I must be getting old...
Meanwhile, Katara stood on her perch to the right of the High Tytonesses throne within the cave, waiting on Thalia. With her sharp eyes she spotted Kygoe growing more and more agitated. "Kygoe!" she called, her Commander voice taking over. "Come here! I want a full report on what you've spotted." Katara led Kygoe to a secluded part in the cave so as not to bother the High Tytoness. "What have you seen?" she demanded. She had to exert her higher status over her older Lieutenant or he might be surly or defiant.
"M'am yes m'am!" Kygoe saluted, his overgrown wing shooting right over his head. Barrath giggled his man-child giggle and Kygoe huffed. Kygoe's eyes grew hot with rage, but Katara put a restraining wing on his shoulder. "Your report lieutenant," she said, her paitence beginning to run thin.
"Yes m'am, sorry m'am. I saw the colonel bringing two sooties to speak with the High Tytoness. Dawn is also fast approaching." Kygoe said, his anger draining at her wing touch. She truly is beautiful, he thought, "Maybe even more then the High Tytoness herself..." he said the last part out loud. The young Supreme Army Commander had risen through the ranks of the Pure Ones, surpassing even Kygoe himself. She was a spectacular fighter and an even better Commander, but her most beautiful quality was when she flew. She flew as though she was dancing, her smithing claws singing as they whipped through the air. Sometimes Kygoe would go out just to watch Katara fly, dancing with the storms. He had heard a rumour that her last name even meant storm dancer.
Katara froze when she heard his remark. "Silence!" she hissed, mortified that the High Tytoness might have heard. "I don't know who your fantasizing, and I don't care, but keep it quiet! There is no-one more perfect or beautiful then the High Tytoness!" she hissed again. Katara was relieved to see the High Tytoness still napping at her throne..
She's so beautiful when she's angry, he thought, then cleared his head. But she's so oblivious...
And she'll never know....
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Post by Gabjas on Mar 23, 2013 9:38:01 GMT -6
(OOC: I posted last night, but it does not seem to be showing up. Can you see my post? Because I tried posting twice!)
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Post by spice on Mar 23, 2013 9:39:50 GMT -6
(OOC: I can see the OOC post, but nothing from before. Hmmm, I wonder....)
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Post by Gabjas on Mar 24, 2013 19:10:55 GMT -6
Prue nodded a silent thanks to Dianthe for saving her tail feathers. The Barn owl felt torn, Thalia had once been like a mother to her; she had raised her, taught her, loved her and yet she dreaded to see her again. Afraid she might recognize her beneath the grey guise of paint.
They stepped forward into the chamber room, a large cavern. Several blood red banners hung from the ceiling and billowed in the breeze, they bore the symbol of the Pure Ones. At the very far end of the structure sat a throne carved out of a boulder, another banner was draped over it.
Despite the tremor of fear it brought to her gizzard, she couldn't help but marvel at the exquisite chamber. The intricate designs of Barn owls wearing masks engraved in the stone walls.
Thalia perched at the throne, two other barn owls stood at each side of her. One of the barn owls was massive and seemed to be playing with a mouse, giggling oafishly as the prey squealed and squirmed in his talons. He wore a dopy expression much unlike the other owl, whom seemed to be deep in thought. Prue couldn't help but notice that the owl's wings were ca tad large compared to the diminutive size of his body. Thalia cast a disdainful look toward them, looking them over before giving a smile.
"Hello there. Welcome to the Pure Ones." she gushed. Prue instinctively bowed her head. "Ma'am." she uttered, she soon clamped her beak shut though, remembering that Thalia might recognize her voice.
One of the barn owls snapped to the other, whom immediately ceased his infuriating giggles. He sighed and left to the mouth of the cave where another barn owl was. They were talking in whispers, but her acute ear slits revealed fragments of their conversation to her. "Want... report... happened..." came a female voice. "Colonel... two Sooties... speak... Tytoness..." came the male in reply. Their voices grew quieter and she could detect anger in her vice before the voices halted altogether.
She shook her head slightly and returned her gaze to Dianthe, whom was speaking with High Tytoness. She didn't seem to have the slightest suspicion of their true identities. This is going better that I expected, Prue thought to herself.
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Post by spice on Mar 24, 2013 19:32:58 GMT -6
(You just jinxed it! XD Just Kidding, or am I?)
Katara flew over to perch behind her Tytoness, landing gracefully and without a sound. She turned her obsidian coloured eyes on the newcomer's, which appeared to be two sooties. They had some strangely coloured feathers. One of them, the slightly bigger one, seemed to have a patch of white-cream feathers near her left wing. Strange, she thought, almost like....No, it can't be. Must be my eyes.
Meanwhile, Dianthe was chatting up the High Tytoness, Thalia. "What could a lowly sooty like me do to serve the Pure Ones?" she asked, changing her voice slightly so the High Tytoness wouldn't recognize her. She was discreetly staking out the cave, looking for possible emergency exits. She pretended to trip, so her beak ended up centimeters from Roryk's ear slit. "Find your sister and wait for us. We'll find you both later." she hissed, her voice too low for the High Tytoness, who was busy rattling on about the Pure Ones Hierarchy, to hear.
Katara, who was perched loyally at her High Tytoness's side, strained to hear what the smaller sooty had said when she tripped. Find......sister....we'll.....later was all she heard. Katara was suspicious, but kept her doubts to herself. The High Tytoness would be the judge of Katara's reservations later.
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Post by Gabjas on Mar 24, 2013 19:43:39 GMT -6
Prue watched as the female Barn owl approached, landing gracefully at the side of the High Tytoness. Roryk bowed his head to Thalia and quietly excused himself from the cavern, heeding the instructions that Dianthe had whispered to him in that brief moment of exchange.
Fortunately, Thalia had been to busy yammering on about the Pure Ones to notice. Prue couldn't be sure of the other owl however, she could see she held suspicions. Thalia finished her speech and said with a slight wave of her port wing, "You are dismissed. I will have my commander appoint you to your official tasks."
Prue nodded and uttered a brief "Yes, High Tytoness." before escorting herself out of the room. Thalia followed them with her eyes until she was sure that they were no longer in listening distance before she turned to Katara with a frown.
"You seem odd of late. Is something bothering you?" she said, placing a wing around her trusted commander and best friend. She had known Katara for a long time, and the High Tytoness could tell when something was not right.
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Post by spice on Mar 24, 2013 19:56:43 GMT -6
Dianthe turned and followed Prue out, anxious to find Roryk and get out of the Pure Ones Headquarters. The place made her gizzard clench and feathers wilt, though she was determined to help Roryk.
Katara turned her lingering gaze from the two sooties to look at her High Tytoness. Thalia had taken Katara under her wing when Katara had arrived, second only to that Prue. Katara had been so happy when the other Barn Owl had departed, leaving the High Tytoness to take care of Katara. Katara had joined the Pure Ones about 2 moons before that Prue had departed. Even though the High Tytoness had raged for awhile, she had come around and back to Katara.
"There's something about those sooties... The bigger one seemed to have some barn owl in her. I'm not sure how pure she is. She could be tainted by the Sooty in her. The other one seems very eager, almost too eager. But it could be just me.." Katara said, her gizzard feeling different. It felt as though there was something up...
"Oh Tytoness, I just don't know. What would you like me to assign them?" she asked. "Preferably somewhere I can keep watch on them."
"They seem... Suspicious."
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Post by Gabjas on Mar 25, 2013 9:18:27 GMT -6
Thalia nodded in contemplation. "Hmm... perhaps you are right. I will trust your judgement." she said thoughtfully. "Since they are low-ranking in purity, or at least we think they are for now, have them placed in a lower level fleet of yours and keep an eye on them in their training."
Now that the Barn owl thought about it, there had been an odd hint of familiarity in the owl's voices and appearances. She had been too busy speaking to truly think on it. "Anything suspicious and you report it to me."
"And... Katara?" she said. "You seemed rather upset after you returned from speaking with Kygoe, why is that if I may ask?"
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Post by spice on Mar 25, 2013 19:07:27 GMT -6
Katara nodded and relaxed. Thalia had always been a comfort for her and knew what to do when she didn't. Thalia wasn't old or protective enough to be Katara's mother, but she was more like the older sister Katara had always wanted. Thalia filled the hole in Katara's heart that lacked a family. Thalia had always been there for Katara, and Katara had vowed that she would be there for Thalia.
Katara winced when Thalia asked about her conversation with Kygoe. The High Tytoness was very proud an could be vain, and would not take lightly to Kygoe's comment. Katara didn't understand who he was talking about or know, but it bothered her. "Nothing, just a report on what he had seen." Some thing, Katara had learned, were better kept to herself. "I'll go assign the newest recruits," she said.
"May I have your leave?"
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Post by Gabjas on Mar 26, 2013 8:33:52 GMT -6
"Hmm..." Thalia said as Katara dismissed the conversation as a mere report; the High Tytoness was a tad suspicious that it was not the entire story, yet she trusted Katara as the faithful friend she had always been.
"Of course." she stated with a sudden smile to reassure her companion. "You are dismissed." She lingered in the chamber for a time after her commander had left, staring absent-mindedly at the stone carvings, tracing them with her talons before departing to find her mate.
All the while thinking. All the while remembering the familiarity of the two Sooties. And then it clicked, not entirely though, as if the gears in her mind had been jammed by a loose gear that was the forgetfulness over moons. She shook her head, frustrated, and continued on her way.
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Post by spice on Mar 26, 2013 14:51:20 GMT -6
Katara swooped out of the cave, eager to find the Sooties. She wanted to assign them to Kygoe's squad, as he seemed the best for finding any impurities. He had a sharp mind and keen eyes, and if anyone could figure out if something was wrong it was Kygoe. He had worried her earlier with his mindless comments, but she had decided it was just another one of his maniacal plots.
"Lieutenant!" she said as she landed beside him. His head snapped up, his miss-sized eyes squinting. "I am assigning those two sooties to your swuad. Watch for any..... Impurities." As he nodded, she gave him a swift nod then leapt off of the perch. She needed to think.
She flew through the night air, the cold knife lightly caressing her. She felt for that underlying heat, that small fizzle on the thermals. She was begging to lose hope, but something in her blood called out to the storm. It was then that she felt it, the bright singing of her gizzard, blood and heart. She plunged downwards towards the swirling mass of air, just beginning to swirl. As the winds picked up, Katara felt herself starting to feel better. The storm whipped her feathers around and she soared, closer and closer to the eye. As she just dodged it, she seemed to be dancing. She lived up and beyond her name.
Stormdancer.
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Post by Gabjas on Apr 1, 2013 15:01:04 GMT -6
Prue snapped her head to face a barn owl she believed to be the supreme commander of the Pure Ones. She gulped down her worries, suppressing what she could of it and tried to avert her gaze from her as she approached Kygoe, the oddly-proportioned owl escorting them and informed him that we were to be assigned to his squad before she lowered her voice in a whisper. Prue glanced briefly at Dianthe before returning to the vacant and rather stupid gaze of her Sooty guise. Katara flew off, her wing beats stroking the air like a paintbrush against a canvas, creating a magnum opus of flight.
Prue gave a salute with her wing to Kygoe, replacing her dopy grin with a look of determination and obedience. "We are in your squad then? I look forward to training."
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Post by spice on Apr 1, 2013 15:22:33 GMT -6
Kygoe squinted his left eye, the right growing larger. He was a rather funny looking owl. "Aye, you are." he said, his voice low and screechy. He examined the two sooties, focusing on the larger of the two. "And you are?" he asked Prue.
Dianthe watched as Katara flew away. As a smith, she could feel the storm rising on the wind. Storms made good coals start to form. She must be mad, Dianthe thought. That storm would kill the Commander.
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