EliteCommander

The Cradle

Nirann gave a brief shrug. “Well, strictly speaking, it could help, insofar as it could help facilitate the development and maturation of interpersonal relationships that are vital to the mental well-being of a social species like Humans…” He started, speaking quickly and flatly before shifting to a more usual tone. “…but yeah, I guess I can admit that we have some other things to worry about tonight. Maybe we can still put together a smaller party back at base?”

“We should certainly put something together. She needs friends right now.” Marae remarked.

In any case, Nirann put his focus more sharply onto Freyr as he maneuvered his way closer to her through the crowd. Between the music and the roar of the crowd, the sounds around them were overwhelming, but the closer he came, the more distractions he could filter out until he could hone in on Freyr’s voice alone. “Now, we probably shouldn’t get ourselves thrown out of the party. Come on over here, I’ve got another idea for some real fun. You’ll love it.” Nirann messaged Freyr directly. He knew better than to just try to appeal only to her sense of reason when that sense was very much compromised at the moment. Rather, he went with the approach of dangling temptation in front of her to get her to go along willingly with what they needed her to do. It did not matter if he was being vague as long as he spoke confidently enough about it.

The Cradle

Nirann tilted his head up slightly towards the sky. With his array of sensors, he could perceive the shield in ways most others couldn’t. Indeed, he could get a read on its size, dimensions, and strength from a distance. Wallace, it seemed, was being quite cautious. He wondered if there was a specific reason to think they were in danger, or if she was just leaving nothing to chance. In any case, he had no problem assisting in his own way. It was easy enough for him to have a subroutine always monitoring his sensors for anything potentially worrying.

Crossing his arms, Nirann laughed. “Are you so sure you want to leave so soon? Freyr is finally looking like she’s having a good time.”

“Well, it would be the responsible thing to do.” Marae remarked.

“Heh, like how responsible you were on our last trip to Anskaria?”

Marae rolled her eyes, then stepped a bit closer to Wallace. “We can join you. Maybe help bring her in without upsetting her.” She offered, though she could not help but to look to the crowd with a bit of temptation. The music, as strange as it was to her, had a beat she was starting to appreciate. The crowd was still as lively as ever, and even for her, it would be easy for her to want to join in. She supposed they would see once they got to Freyr.

Halo: Aegis Team

Vael 'Virisusai

---

Vael heard and considered the advice of the members of his team. They all had their own expertise, and he could benefit from making use of it. Still, though they had a few options, a decision still needed to be made, especially when there was no clear “best” choice. ”We cannot carry out our ambush and attempt stealth. An infiltrator would be in range of the explosives, if discovered. An ambush is the safer course. Most of their warriors will likely be in those structures on the east side of the platform. There are no guards underneath the platform, so Grikgar, you should be able to plant the charges on the supports underneath them.”

Pausing a moment, Vael started designating positions on the team’s collective HUDs. ”As Yalu suggests, we shall take positions on what will become the high ground. This ridgeline here will give a strong position for most of us. Aviza, Ryker, Yalu, take a position on the western ridge to create a crossfire. When the charges detonate, the Unggoy outside will most likely panic, so they will not be our priority. We will instead focus our fire on the exits to the structures to cut down the rest as they try to reach safety.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For all of her power with manipulating the dead, Ahnasha was not much of a healer to the living. She could cast a few healing spells suitable to minor to moderate flesh wounds, but Kaleeth needed far more than that at the moment. Ahnasha quickly cast what she could, but it did not stop all of the bleeding.

Kaleeth herself was not particularly responsive. She still breathed, her eyes opened and she appeared to be looking around, but she said nothing and did not move on her own. It was all she could do just to stay awake. She could not help walk, and between her own weight and that of her armor, she was difficult to carry even for Fendros. Particularly considering the ordeal they had just been through. Still, it only took a few, difficult steps forward before Fendros would feel some of the weight being lifted off of him. Another had taken Kaleeth’s other arm over his shoulder to take half of the weight on himself. A glance over, and Fendros would see a werewolf, bloody and armored, but immediately recognizable as Lorag.

“My legs ain’t broken, so we’re getting her there, one way or another.” Lorag growled. He seemed to be struggling in more ways than one. His armor hid any injuries, though it seemed that he struggled more against his own mind than his own body. With the battle over, any beast spirit would be more than sated on bloodshed, and their natural tendency was to rest. Even a lycan as old and experienced as Lorag had to fight against his beast to keep himself in his lycan form, but he still pressed on, step-by-step.

Janius, as well as Sabine and her pack, had still not found one another, and the scents in the air were starting to become more mixed and hard to distinguish. The shout of Fendros’ orders might have been enough to draw them to him, but if not, they could find each other once again in their camp. Ahnasha felt she remembered the area well enough to guide them back, so she walked just ahead of them to lead the way.

The Cradle

Marae laughed, crossing her arms as she looked down on Freyr next to her. “But you are a conundrum, aren’t you Dr. Lang? Not but a moment ago, it didn’t seem like you were up for much of any kind of party, much less one of your own making. And here I was thinking we were about to have a quiet evening relaxing over drinks, sharing stories…”

Nirann walked around on Freyr’s other side, holding his arms out as wide has he could in the crowd as he took a few steps back. “Well I don’t know about you, but a party sounds worlds more exiting than…that. And I’ll tell you, I am wonderful at acting drunk. Always the life of the party.”

“But unlike everyone else, you get to cheat. No risks, and you can always just snap yourself out of it.” Marae grunted.

“Oh, you know well how I can handle risks.” Even if he hadn’t been masked, Nirann could not give expressions, but everything about the way he spoke gave the image of him speaking through a wide grin. “What’s something you’ve never done before, Freyr? Something exciting? Something frightening? Both? We’ve got freedom and we’ve got these masks, so no one will be getting on to us later.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Now that she had a chance to simply stop and catch her breath, the reality of the situation started to sink in for Ahnasha as well. Vile himself had been defeated, all of the souls he had stolen throughout this war had been freed to go to their rightful place in the Hunting Grounds, and the fighting was finally over. Not just this battle, but in the war as a whole. Now, the only planning they would need to do would be to transition into peace. She smiled with Fendros’ laughter and, for those few seconds, just let herself enjoy the moment. They had delved through Oblivion itself and come through beaten, but alive. At this point, no matter what else had happened, both of them had made it through alive.

Eventually, Ahnasha’s focus was brought back to more immediate concerns once Fendros asked about the others. There was no one else in view of them, but the forest was thick enough that they could not see far. Indeed, if they took a moment to listen, there were many more footsteps and voices becoming clear in the area around them. Far more than could just belong to their own pack. “Well, I imagine it brought us back near our Oblivion gate, so…we’re probably somewhere in the forest near our camp. We might be spread out a bit; I think there’s more than just our pack nearby. I didn’t find any of the others on the way here, but it was your scent I was looking for first.”

Ahnasha was slower to get up than she had been to approach him. Now that she had calmed somewhat, it was getting easier for her to feel the pain of her injuries. The ruinach had not killed her, but she had taken a few hits from it after Fendros had pressed forward. She groaned, stumbling somewhat as she pushed herself up to her feet. She winced when she put weight on her leg, though she did not think it was broken, at least. There was little doubt of how bruised and battered she must have been under her armor, but it was nothing a lycan could not recover from. With a quick look around, Ahnasha guessed that they might be nearby, as both Spellbreaker and the Rueful Axe had been brought back close by as well. She carefully helped Fendros up to his feet, then grabbed Spellbreaker to carry it for him.

The pair did not need to walk far to start finding others. It seemed like all of their soldiers, regardless of where they were on the battlefield, had been brought back somewhere in the vicinity of their now-dormant Great Oblivion Gate. Lycans, Imperials, and Dominion soldiers all looked around with varying degrees of confusion as they tried to get their bearings. It did not take long before they started to hear the shouts of Imperial and Dominion officers giving orders to try and regroup their scattered forces. Not all likely understood that the battle was over, though Ahnasha doubted it would be long before they had reorganized. Beyond that, it was the healers that were desperately trying to deal with the chaos around them. Wounded and dead both littered the forest, and it was going to be a task to sort between them. For the pair of them, it was the scents of their friends they were trying to find, and fortunately, they did not need to go to far to catch one on the wind.

Even laying on the ground, Kaleeth stood out easily in the forest. They found her on the ground as Fendros had been, but she was much worse off than being merely dazed. Blood was already starting to stain the grass underneath her, mostly from her mangled leg. She had spent so much of the fight at the very front that even her dragonbone armor was showing as much damage as Kaleeth herself. The blood flowing down from joints and gaps in her armor stained the plate red, and it was uncertain exactly how much she had lost by this point. Fortunately, she was still breathing, and still conscious by the way she looked up at them, but she was weak. Very weak.

A few other warriors had already found Kaleeth before the pair arrived, but there had not yet been enough time for anyone to meaningfully help her. “Kaleeth!” Ahnasha shouted. Pain shot through her leg with every step as she rushed over, but she was not concerned about herself at the moment. “We need to stop this bleeding, and…our camp. We need to get her back to the camp! They can treat her at the infirmary.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For a moment, Ahnasha appeared to ignore any of Fendros’ urgency. Instead, she put her arms around him, hugging his neck as tightly as she could. “Just calm down. Breathe. You already did. What do you think it was that knocked you on your tail? I saw it all myself. With what I know of Daedra, I think I can take a good guess on what happened. Vile, well…a Daedric Prince can’t die, but you put him through the closest he can get to death. It looked like the power left in the axe destabilized his essence, and probably the rest of his realm along with him. Our Oblivion gate closed, and when a gate closes, it sends everyone back to where they came from.”

Ahnasha pulled back away from him somewhat to allow him to look around more easily. As Fendros’ vision cleared, their surroundings came into view for him. They were now in quite a different forest from what they had seen in the Fields of Regret. “We’re back in the Hunting Grounds. I imagine Hircine took that chance after Vile was defeated to take as much of his stolen power as he could, like all the lycan souls he’s taken from us. We’re here, and...I wouldn’t be aching this much if I were dead, so…it’s over. The war is over.”

The Cradle

Marae swam up and climbed out of the water alongside Freyr. Despite the crowd, being underwater came with a silence that could make the area seem almost peaceful. Though, that illusion was easily shattered once they were back in open air. “Yes, I think maybe this isn’t the best sort of place for you right now. Maybe we should head back and have more of a quiet evening. We can have a few drinks, share some stories, relax.” She suggested before shooting another glance down towards the water. “Come on back up. We’re heading back inside.” She messaged to Nirann.

Nirann’s current body could not swim in any real way, but he would not have jumped in without a way out. His frame had thrusters built in, mostly intended for zero-G maneuvering, but they could provide enough force in water to get him back up to the surface. Or at least, he brought himself close enough to grab a hold of the edge of the pontoon, then hoisted himself up the rest of the way.

“Just based on my impressions of her, I’m thinking the odds are good that there is a full bar somewhere in this ship. Hopefully it’s somewhere not overrun by…tourists.” Marae remarked.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The moment the axe’s edge made contact, the remainder of the power within was released. In an instant, everything went white and a wave of force struck him. For a few moments, Fendros would hardly be able to perceive much of anything. The light was blinding and his ears were left ringing, along with something of a fierce headache. It would be hard for him to tell if he was just regaining his senses, or if he had been knocked out entirely for a time. He would be able to feel again before he could see, but what he felt might not have been what he expected.

Fendros was lying flat on his back, not on hard, cold stone as he had been before, but in soft grass with the warmth of the sun shining down on his fur. Sounds started to filter in next, though many were still overpowered by the constant ringing. Some rustling leaves, followed by footsteps approached quickly from his left, though he had still not regained his senses enough to respond. Not a moment later and someone was knelt beside him. Hands armored in chainmail touched the side of his snout, moving his head slightly side to side. “-ndros ar-…-right?” A voice shouted, though everything still sounded muffled to him. “-Are you…can…-ear me?” It continued.

Finally, shapes started to become more clear in Fendros’ vision. At first it was a vague silhouette, a person’s head hovering just above his own. Then, details started to show. Sharp angles and rough edges characterized the armor. Dragonscale. Finally, the face came into view within the open helmet. Large, worried eyes. Small black stripes among brown fur.

Ahnasha.

“Can you move? Are you hurt? Please be alright…” She questioned again, looking into his eyes to search for a reaction.

The Cradle

“So…about that well, then.” Marae frowned and let out what would have been a long breath, had they not been underwater. For the moment, she ignored the music and chaos of the crowd around them and swam up beside Freyr. Soon enough, Freyr would feel two oversized hands resting gently upon her shoulders as Marae looked down at her with a certain, knowing sadness in her eyes. Though not Human, she could certainly be more expressive than Nirann at the moment.

Although they could not speak aloud presently, the messages Freyr could hear in her mind still carried Marae’s voice and the same tone with which she “spoke” them. “I know that feeling. It’s as persistent as it is insidious. It’s…fear, worry, all swelling up inside until it gets to the point of bursting. I know it can get bad, especially when the thing you’re worrying about isn’t sudden. Some days, you get up filled with hope. You can have all the confidence that everything is just going to work out.” Marae paused for just a moment to search for an appropriate expression. “…then at the drop of a hat, all of that hope can just vanish and you feel like someone is squeezing your heart out of your chest. It’s at its worst when you’re alone. When you can be trapped with just your own thoughts.”

With a few kicks and a swaying tail, Marae positioned herself directly in front of Freyr to make sure she could keep eye contact. “So you work. Occupy your mind with fixing it. With making it better. You love them, and you know you can do something, so you have to do everything you possibly can. And whenever you’re not doing something, even if you’re exhausted, muscles aching, and hardly able to stand, you still feel like you haven’t done enough. And that’s why these last few weeks have been torture for you. Because we’ve been sitting here waiting, and waiting, and we can’t do anything.”

Without a moment’s hesitation, Marae wrapped her arms around Freyr and pulled her tightly into a hug. Even without military augmentations, Rothians still had a lot of muscle behind them that was easy to feel to the touch. “I’m sorry, Freyr. I’m sorry that you have to go through this, that we haven’t been able to do more. I’m sorry that you’re trapped here waiting for governments who don’t care about us and are just playing their political games over the damned Cradle. But…you’re not alone, Freyr. Okay? I just want you to know that. A lot of people involved in all this don’t care, but some of us do. I know how you feel, and I will help you.”