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Post by No-Sting on Aug 23, 2015 21:18:58 GMT 1
Unaware of the tense meeting inside the Beacon Room, No-Sting made her way inside, humming loudly to herself. It had been a good hunt and she was eager to sit down and warm up by the fire.
She tore aside the fur that covered the entrance from the tunnel to the Beacon Room and loudly proclaimed: "Bring me all your hungry bellies! Swift-Wind and I have caught two rabbits and a fish! We'll eat well tonight!"
A fish and two rabbits wasn't much to go around with a tribe of two eights and five, but with Slinker's supplies and what the other hunters would bring in it was more than they'd had to go around in a while. Things were looking up!
That's when Mindlight and the stranger caught No-Sting's eye. Having spent eight and four nights around this mountain she'd almsot gotten used to strangers popping out of the walls now and then. And she was tired.
Thus, her only comment about the situation was a fairly gruff: "What's wrong with him?"
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Post by Swift-Wind on Aug 23, 2015 21:29:56 GMT 1
Swift-wind followed right behind No-Sting, as unaware as her sister of what was going on. Being proud of the fact that they had caught fish and rabbits she held the fish up and quite loudly said: "Look at this, who wants a piece of this delicious fish?" Then reacting to what her sister just said, she agreed: "What has been going on with him? "You haven't been scaring him, Mindlight?" She could not believe Mindlight would do that, but what else could have happened? And frankly she was sick and tired of things just happening, bad things, when she tried so hard.
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Post by Mindlight on Aug 23, 2015 22:07:09 GMT 1
Mindlight shook her head, too tired to respond vocally. ~**New. Something bad happened to him, before he came here.**~
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Post by Sefu on Aug 24, 2015 8:16:29 GMT 1
A part of him recognised Mindlights sends, but he didn't react to it. Though after some time, it seemed that the meaning of the sends had reached him and his steady mantra stopped, and for a short time he just sat there, registering that there was no punishment. A few more moments and he lifted his head just to stare, seeing but yet unseeing. He tried to close everything inside him in, if there was nothing to hurt, he wouldn't be hurt.
He hadn't heard the two who had entered the cave, and thus only looked to Mindlight with no light in his eyes, "I-I'm so sorry I... I didn't mean to..." He spotted the two elves that had entered, and froze. He didn't know how to react. His instincts told him to kneel as far down as he could: Strangers of higher standing than him, and he had just messed up some of the food he had been given so kindly. But still what Mindlight had told him tried to ease him away from that reaction. But his insticts were the strongest and so he scrambled down into a kneel. "For-forgive me," he said, his low and raspy voice unsteady.
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Post by Swift-Wind on Aug 24, 2015 11:06:10 GMT 1
Swift-Wind was quite surprised by how the new one was acting and could not at all understand why he was kneeling. So she just said "Oh new one, I know you didn't react as we hoped, when we got in here with food just know, but there is no need to kneel and apologize. You can have some anyhow. Instead of annoyance she felt pity for the guy. And curiousity as to how he had become like this. "Where are you from?"
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Post by Mindlight on Aug 24, 2015 11:46:54 GMT 1
Oh thank the High Ones. Mindlight felt relief wash over her, and she sent more warmth and welcoming to him, in sending, too tired to do much else. But we're back to the kneeling. Why with the kneeling?
The wolfrider chieftess, past words, sent images and feelings to Swift-Wind and No-Sting: his fear when he got there, the fact that he had arrived balled up and covered in scars, the kneeling and refusing to meet her eyes, all the signs of subservience. Despite how much energy she had used, the wolf within found some to still be angry with, at whoever had done this to him.
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Post by No-Sting on Aug 24, 2015 20:56:18 GMT 1
Her eyes wide No-Sting took in the kneeling form of the newcomer. She all but lost the grip on the two rabbits she was holding. What in the whole world was going on?!
~**He looks like he's gone a round with a bad-tempered troll,**~ No-Sting lock-sen to Swift-Wind. No-Sting had no word or concept for slave, but there were legends of how things had been between the Tuftear Clan and the trolls before the trading had begun...
Outloud she said: "You have a name, newcomer? I'm No-Sting and this is my sister Swift-Wind. Eh, you've already met Mindlight." Introducing Tinder who was tending to the fire seemed like too much information to burden the poor elf with. "Why are you on your knees? Are you too hurt to sit up?"
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Post by Sefu on Aug 24, 2015 22:54:53 GMT 1
Mindlights warm sendings made it clear to him that his subservience wasn't necessary. It was so deeply rooted in him, that even with the assurances, he still felt uncomfortable when he wasn't kneeling completely low. Instead he chose to do something that would keep his stance subservient, but not as obviously as the former. He hunched his back and placed his hands palms up on his thighs. Now he felt slightly safe again.
Then came all the questions, and they confused him. Why, oh, why would they need to know anything about him? He was just dust on the floor. Or maybe he wasn't? But no, he was, at least somebody had made sure he felt like so. But he answered them anyway, if he didn't that was just bad behaviour and would demand a whipping. He started with the easiest. "I-I am called Sefu. I-I came from what was called the Pearl of the Desert by human traders, but humans took me first to the city of Az Zaidr, then to Dourrah and finally to Shurnis," Sefu said, his voice a little less raspy and not as low as before. He said it all in a way that was sort of detached, as if it wasn't really him who had gone through it, but some stranger that he didn't really know. His eyes had all the way through been looking at the floor, though he had been glancing towards Mindlight, as if seeking affirmation that he was allowed to do what he did.
He needed to take a couple swallows before he could answer the last of the questions.
"I kneel-" His voice cracked slightly so he cleared his throat and started over, "I kneel because I was taught to do so in greeting, if ordered to or whenever nothing else was recquired of me." If it was possible, it seemed that he had detached himself even further. It wasn't the first time he had been recquired to list why he was made to do things. "I was taught so because I am of no standing, I am a slave, a thing, I am lower than cattle, just like dust on the flo-eugh!" He had bitten his tongue to stop the steady stream of words. Not hard enough to draw blood but enough to stop himself. He had caught himself in reciting as he would normally have been told to do, but these elves hadn't told him to recite, they just wanted answers to still their curiosity. He shouldn't burden them with his miserable existence. "I-I must apologise for my blurting. I wouldn't want to burden you with as lowly matters as that." He lowered his head in apology, but also to hide the shame that was heating his cheeks.
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Post by Mindlight on Aug 25, 2015 4:33:46 GMT 1
Mindlight felt her anger flare. Who are these hu-mans to take an elf as a slave?! She had heard of such a thing before; the trolls had taken a number of her tribesmates in the last attack, a loss she had never recovered from. She swallowed, hard, trying not to let her rage show; she did not want Sefu to think he was at fault. As his answers went on, it only stoked her anger, and she had to resist forcing him to look at her, to scream at him to stop apologising and that he was no ones to own but his own. It would do no good, she knew, and could in fact make matters worse.
Each time he glanced at her, though, she was very careful that he saw her smiling, encouragement pasted on her face even as her wolf roiled and seethed beneath the surface. She took a very deep breath, and said, calmly, "I see. I understand what you were taught. Please, understand, we do not see you as so lowly. You are equal to any one of us, in our eyes." She hoped, desperately, that No-Sting and Swift-Wind felt the same. They were going to have problems if they didn't. She sent to two, unable to hide her true feelings by the nature of sending, ~**Sending to him seems to work best. He feels the truth of sending, even if he doesn't understand it. I must step away for a while so I do not make this worse for him.**~ The last was said with a tone of apology, though she knew it was unavoidable. If she didn't take a moment her rage would overwhelm her and spill out.
She half-walked, half-crawled over to the fire, taking out her daggers. Looking at No-Sting, gesturing to the ravvits, "May I?"
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Post by Panaetha on Aug 25, 2015 9:27:30 GMT 1
**I'm coming, Mindlight,** came Panaetha's send from where their other new arrival was playing with Sunset's cheetah kit; the boy, though oddly colored, seemed to be fine, at least for the moment. If the latest arrival was so shaken that the mind-healer needed her help, then he seemed to be the one who needed help the most.
As she made her way to the Beacon Room, the voices behind her faded, and the voices before her became more clear. What she heard most clearly was Sefu's description of himself...a slave, a thing, like dust. The healer's heart hurt for him...slavery was not unheard of where she was from, but it was altogether different when it was an elf enslaving elves. Though her mother only had her extremely elderly companions to control, she would enslave her father's entire tribe if she could, and still wielded plenty of power over the trolls living in "her" mountain. Panaetha shuddered at the thought and continued on.
She gasped quietly as she entered the Beacon Room; not from shock, but relief at being in a larger space. Sefu's hair seemed almost as bright as the Beacon itself, the pearlescent tresses a sharp contrast to his dark skin. Panaetha gently put her hand on Mindlight's shoulder, a non-verbal signal of her arrival, and she knelt in front of the newcomer. **I greet you in the manner you greet us,** she gently sent; openly, but intended for Sefu. **We are from as many lands as our number, but we all consider each other equal...this shift, and the shift in your location, must be very jarring for you. If you cannot be our equal and stand with us, would you allow me to be your equal kneeling with you?** Panaetha held out her hands, resting the backs on top of her knees in offering. Her posture was very similar to his, but she held her back straight and kept her yellow eyes trained on him.
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Post by No-Sting on Aug 26, 2015 21:35:24 GMT 1
No-Sting was caught flabbergast. What was going on?! The newcomer was hurt, Mindlight was clearly very upset and now Panaetha had joined the fray, kneeling on the floor. Nothing made sense to No-Sting at this moment in time. **Yes, we're all elves here,** she found herself sending, her mind voice loudly proclaiming her confusion, but no anger, fear or hate. **And if you want to kneel on the floor while you eat I'll get us some furs. The stone must be hurting your knees something awful.** No-Sting turned to set down her rabbits and get said furs. The beacon lit up. As if there wasn't enough chaos already...But instead of a new elf appearing, Tinder vanished. One minute she and her bond were at rest by the fire and the next, gone. The beacon's light faded. "By the High Ones!" No-Sting cried, almost dropping her prey in the fire. **Everyone, Tinder just disappeared! I-I think the beacon took her...** she open-sent to all elves in range, too surprised to think such a move through. **Is anyone else missing?** OOC: Tinder just disappeared before our eyes and elsewhere Nettle and Slinker have done so also. Edit: I forgot Nettle was in this room helping Tinder. Let's say she went outside to get something just as No-Sting and Swift-Wind came inside. Anyone can feel free to go outside to check on her, only to see that her tracks in the snow lead nowhere
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Post by Swift-Wind on Aug 30, 2015 18:30:42 GMT 1
Swift-Wind was quite over-come with all that was happening, and didn't know how to respond or where to begin. But her sister's send echoed in her mind. So she began answering her first. Lock-sending ~**I do think he reminds me a little of that. Only this guy is even worse off.**~
Then Swift-Wind tried to wrap her mind around the fact that Panaetha was kneeling alongside the new guy. She could see the logic in it, but come on, wasn't there another way to make him feel comfortable and normal?! Like joking with him? Swift-Wind thought and stood back, just observing. Trying not to get too close to the guy. Because even though she wanted to help him, right now she was too tired.
Then she heard No-Sting's cry..."What?! Is Tinder gone?! That can't be!!" she herself cried out. Then she calmed herself, not wanting to scare the new guy, or anyone else and said, "Are you sure of that No-Sting? She didn't just hide?" And lock-sent to No-Sting ~**Maybe we should keep this from the new guy? He seems scared enough as it is?**~
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Post by Sofia on Sept 1, 2015 20:48:38 GMT 1
OOC: Update from Joan - Silverthorn also disappeared alongside with Tinder, Nettle and Slinker. I'll post with No-Sting after two of Sefu, Panaetha or Mindlight have posted
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Post by Mindlight on Sept 6, 2015 0:50:17 GMT 1
The hand on her shoulder sent a wash of relief through Mindlight and she sent wordless thanks to her fellow healer. She was reaching for the ravvits when the Beacon flared, and did drop her knife as Tinder disappeared from directly in front of her, on the other side of the fire. High Ones preserve us, it's not a one way journey. Her mind roiled in turmoil; it meant the possibility that she could go home, but if the Beacon had sent them all here, there was no way to guarantee that it would send them home.
"Puckernuts!" She hissed as she grabbed a stick and fished her knife out of the fire. The handle was a bit charred but it seemed she'd managed to rescue it before it was actually damaged. Silently taking the ravvits from No-Sting, the mind-healer watched Panaetha and Sefu while she began skinning the addition to their dinner.
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Post by Sefu on Sept 9, 2015 21:52:42 GMT 1
He was gratified by Mindlights acceptance, and understood that she was exhausted, so he let her leave for the fire. That was when a cat-like elf came in and knelt before Sefu. At first he was confused that she had knelt before him but her sending made him understand. She had chosen to greet him as an equal in the way that he could be an equal to them. He lifted his chin and tried to meet her yellow eyes but in the end his trained subservience conquered his will to try and meet her eyes. “I-I don’t deserve this, but I must thank you, I… You would give me furs for my knees…?” He said bewildered by the kindness and consideration he was almost showered with, only to be disturbed by the pulsing light of the large crystal he hadn’t spotted before and the sudden disappearance of the food-tending elf.
His eyes widened in slight fear and confusion. He didn’t understand exactly what No-Sting and Swift-Wind meant, but he understood that something unexpected had happened. He felt slightly uneasy with the idea that an elf had just disappeared into thin air. He was dragged out of his muddled mind with a start by Mindlights exclamation and just stared around the cave room at the other elves not daring to disturb anything.
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