Heavensward

[arroganceandangst]

Coming to Ishgard

The Crystal Braves's betrayal still fresh in mind and only the Warriors of Light, Alphinaud, and Tataru accounted for, Cid Garlond whisks our heroes away to Coerthas to avoid detection of the crew they thought were friends. They find themselves in Ishgard where they are greeted warmly by House Fortemps and granted sanctuary, much to the displeasure of King Thordan and his Heavens Ward.

Alphinaud's despair about being unable to "Save Eorzea(TM)" comes to a head and Tatarus and the Warriors of Light set him straight. Together they move forward to find their scattered friends and allies and move forward. Meanwhile, the Dragonsong War begins to set back into motion after years of an unease and tense ceasefire.

Amongst the chaos a strange and desperate from another world slips into our Eorzea with the intent of saving their land at the cost of ours.

Welcome to Heavensward, I hope you packed your furs.

Comments

What even is being concise? No short tags we write prose like men!

[provokedultimatum]

Athala would admit, only ever to herself, that this was one of the scarier encounters she'd been cursed with having, especially as the giant sodding beast wasn't going away. The proximity of the growls seemed to change as it roamed about looking for her but after listening for awhile seemed to very much stick in the same general vicinity.

Her breath hisses out between her teeth as she watches the blood from her chest wound start to drip onto the snow. She scowls as she presses her back against the masonry, keeping her gaze on the surrounding snow drifts, there were plenty of smaller beasts about who would happily have a go. She certainly doesn't relax when the looming form of the loud Au Ra appears in view riding some dark, four-legged thing, and she stiffens as the Lalafell woman accompanying him rushes into her personal space, hissing as the movement aggravates her wound.

"Fuck you." She bites out in the direction of Ara as she forces herself not to flinch away from Roroka, "You never said your name either you scaly prick. And what was I going to do, stand still and let the thing eat me?" The last sentence is directed, accompanied by her near permanent scowl at Roroka.

This was the first time that Athala had ever been conscious when healing magic had been used on her and it felt...weird. Like a Potion but more and deeper, it soothed in a way the Atha had never felt before and she stopped frowning at Roroka. "...Thanks..." It was quiet and somewhat begrudging but it was more than Atha normally graced people with, as evidenced by Atha regarding Ara's hand like you would if someone tried to hand you a pile of shit and slapping the offered limb aside and pushing herself to her feet.

"No fucking shit, what gave you that idea?!" She sneered disdainfully, "Wait, what are you doing?" She storms up to Ara and goes to shove him with a growl. "I wasn't going after it you moron, that giant fucking monster roamed onto the path and went for me. If you and your buddies have a death wish be my fucking Twelve-damned guest, I'm leaving."

Or at least she would have down if at that point well-equipped Adventurers hadn't started showing up, cutting off Athala as more and more people started to arrive.

[arroganceandangst]

Aragibal grinned down to Athala as the Adventurers showed up - first a slow trickle, then more and more at a time. It was not long until a small army had arrived and was standing around chatting, showing off armor, having a pissing contest about their latest achievements. Clearly this was a relatively close knit group from the way everyone was addressing each other. Some were hugging while others were discussing the latest news from all corners of the world. Aragibal couldn't help but nudge Athala with his elbow, clearly in a good mood. "Pretty impressive how word gets around - there are people even from outside my network here!" He looked down to her, his grin turning into a warm smile despite all of the name calling. "You're right - you never gave me a chance to introduce myself earlier. My name is Aragibal Kha. Let's get that big beastie, shall we?"

He called out over the chatter, gathering everyone's attention. "Ho! Friends! Thank you for coming! I'm sure you all can hear the giant monster, searching for my friend here!" He motioned to Athala. "The big beast thought she'd be an easy snack - I'm sure the creature didn't expect her to come back with an army!" His voice became strong on the word army, and it was met with cheers from the Adventurer group. His tail was lashing about excitedly. He looked down to Athala. "Your move. You're leading this fight. We follow you."

[provokedultimatum]

The more people showed up the tenser Atha got, the deeper her scowl got, and the paler her skin turned. Her grip on her axe handle turns white-knuckled as The Idiot grinned stupidly at her. She couldn't run, not without being stopped by the building swarm of people gathering and it was all the scaly bastard's fault.

"None of them should fucking be here!" She snaps at Ara as she flinches ever so slightly away from his and turns her head back to the group, teeth gritting together tightly as she completely ignores the opportunity to give her name in return.

Fuck.

She was going to kill him. She was going to bloody chop him into tiny pieces and feed them to an Avis. So many people staring at her and against all her control that old, familiar feeling wells up 'Be unseen, be unnoticed.

Atha beat it back with a snarl, "Let's just fucking kill the blighted bugger!" Axe in ready stance she starts running towards the roaring, skin prickling at having so many people at her back.

She really was going to kill him.

[arroganceandangst]

He was aware that he was probably putting this woman in a position she had no desire to be in and this became obvious at the way she snaps at him. The creature needed to be put down and there wasn't a reason that she shouldn't be around for it - she found it, she deserved the loot from the kill (if there was any), and someday she would have to learn that it was okay to call on others for help. As she addressed the crowd he drew his sword, immediately allowing himself to succumb to the dark side. He grinned and took off after her, close behind.

They came up on King Behemoth as he lashed about, looking for his prey. The giant beast noticed the group approaching and turned to deal with them, locked onto Atha. Together the group fought - healers making sure everyone was alright, Atha making sure that Behemoth went nowhere, Ara making sure Atha didn't take any unnecessary hits, and plenty of damage dealers hitting him with all they had. The battle went relatively smoothly until Aragibal noticed that Atha was not quite in top shape and Behemoth was about to do an extremely powerful attack. Unless the healers managed to get her healed before the blow landed, there was a very real chance she wouldn't make it through the hit. He quickly moved in between her and the attack, defending her from it. For once he actually did not make a comment of it, he just checked to make sure she was okay. The

It was a glorious battle - certainly one to write home about (he wouldn't). With Behemoth felled some of the adventurers took a moment to chat and share contact information, but for the most part the group dispersed. Aragibal grinned and looked to Atha. "That was some of the most fun I've had in a while. I'm glad to see Roro's healing fixed you up proper and that beast was put down." It was clear he had no intention on leaving her as the last of the adventurers took a teleport to somewhere else to resume what they were doing before being called out to kill Behemoth.

Oh hai x.x

[provokedultimatum]

Atha pants, rolling out of the way of the Kaiser Behemoth's massive, deadly paws, growling as she heft her axe and swings again at the monster before it could turn from her. She was lagging and by Rhalgr if she had any energy left in her after this thing was dead she was taking her axe to that sodding Au Ra's head for backing her into a corner. Again.

Or not. She thought as she watched him swap in to take a powerful blow she was unable to avoid, hating the cold shock of fear that ran through her as she watched him fight. He was good, really good, and oh god how lucky did she get that he was practically plastered to the wall in Aleport.

Behemoth finally dead, Atha paused as the other Adventurers teleported away, sucking in air and shaking out her aching limbs. It was when it became clear to Atha that he wasn't leaving that she swung her axe at him with a shout.

"How fucking dare you?! Who gave you the gods damned right?! You forced me into that fight!"

and thus she was returned after 3 weeks rest

[arroganceandangst]

He blocked her axe without even a second thought - he deflected the blow like a man swatting away an insect, though he was certainly more friendly than that. He was a little confused by her reaction - that is, her anger at him.

"Most people want to put down giant beasts - and we all had your back!"

He was still irritatingly cheerful.

"If we didn't put it down here and now it'd cause quite a bit more trouble for others anyhow - we made a perfectly able team to bring it down!"

He meant specifically himself and her, not the entire group of people - though it could be taken either way.

"Come, let's go take a rest and get some food - after a fight like that nothing else is of more comfort!"

His grip on his sword had not loosened one bit, recognizing she may take more swings at him, ready to deflect them. He wouldn't attack her or attempt to disable her, just deflect.

big mood for this thread tbh :P

[provokedultimatum]

Atha snarls as he deflects her strike like it was nothing, like she was just some small bloody inconvenience not even worth the effort. "You could have fucking done it without me! I could have fucking left when your buddies turned up!"

She steps back when he mentions the two of them resting and eating together. "You did it on purpose didn't you?" She shouts at him, accusing, "You did it so I couldn't leave!"

can you hear me screaming from campus

[arroganceandangst]

Confusion crossed his face as she accused him. Some part of him buried deep down inside wonders if this is something more than just anger and if something was feeding it, but he has no way to be sure. He lowers his sword, holding it with only one hand as if it were a short sword.

"I did it for the glory of the fight - your visage shall be spread as a hero now! You'll be recognized as the one who gathered everyone to put down the great beast! I had no intention in trapping you in a situation you didn't want to be in."

His voice softened, and his voice a bit more quiet, especially with the snow muffling sound.

"I apologize if that is what I did, m'lady."

absolutely XD

[provokedultimatum]

Atha whips her axe back towards Ara's face with an angry cry. "DID'YA NOT THINK I DON'T WANT MA FACE SPREAD ABOUT YOU FUCKER!"

It's clear that she's getting more and more worked up as Atha continues to fail to hit and with a final shriek, throws the massive battleaxe at him.

[arroganceandangst]

He blocks the axe moving towards his face still as if it were simply practice rather than an actual attempt to hurt him, confusion still living on his face as she yells about spreading her face about. His eyes grew wide as she literally threw the axe at him, though he easily dodged out of the way so that the axe flew harmlessly past him.

"That sure is a new technique, hah. They didn't teach me that while I was learning the axe." It had distracted him enough to make him grin and be amused. He looked back to her as the axe landed in the snow, his smile fading as he came back to the reality of the situation. "Well, why wouldn't you? You're quite a talented warrior."

And not so hard on the eyes either, he thought to himself, though he knew this wasn't the time to say it.