Orpheus

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Thaum: Coliseum

Lute followed everyone out of the arena via the ladder, wondering why he didn’t get the idea to look around for one earlier. He decided that he was a bad decision-maker in times of panic and shrugged the thoughts away, readying his sword for combat. Unfortunately they were immediately surrounded by a group of enraged spectators. All of them seemed to want to skin the Blobfish Avengers for a ‘performance’ gone awry, but if anything, Lute thought that their decision to hurt them before taking care of the beasts running amok was waaay stupid. Plus their voices were giving him a freaking headache.

“Shush, will you!?” He snapped once again and held his hand out as if to push someone away. Everyone standing directly in front of him lost their voice. An oddly satisfied expression ran over Lute’s face before he turned away to listen to Jeff.

“What!?” Lute tilted his head to the right as if he was listening to someone, and at once he shot an interested glance towards Selan. “She could? Really? Okay, I’ll get on it. Calm down, geez,” He muttered to himself, looking quite cross again, before shoving people away to make a path towards the songstress. Summing it up, this situation was ideal for him: more noise meant more power for the virtuoso.

“Hey, excuse me!” He waved at Selan, hoping to catch her attention. Unfortunately a muscular dude was in the way so he was pretty much sandwiched between said guy and another dude, right near the underarm. Gods. “You…. Sing, right? I can help! Ack, get off me!” Lute brought his hands together and swung at the brawler, prying himself loose and falling on the floor when the man moved away.

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Posting today. ._.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

@Pach, that was just a mention! Seriously. She's not going to arrive.
Buuut I got it, guys. I'll cut down on stuff from now on and remove dialogue. Thanks for the comments. Sorry I'm screwing a lot up. ._.

... Writing a post.

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Oi I'm moving you guys tomorrow! 8D

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Thaum: Coliseum

The bars everywhere retracted and the teams looked at each other in panic, and the Blobfish Avengers were treated to more than a few accusing glares before the other warriors tried to rush out of the arena. Unfortunately, the exit was blocked by the angry mob, so going that way was obviously not an option for Lute and Co.

“Welp, looks like you guys got a standing ovation,” Delilah muttered wryly as she scanned the coliseum for other points of entry. Lute clicked his tongue against the roof of his mouth before eyeing the wolves, both of whom seemed confused rather than bloodthirsty now. “Hey Dellie, can you imitate a wolf?” He asked; the familiar stirred at the oddity of his question but nodded nonetheless. “Just to warn you, I sound wolf, but I don’t speak wolf. Got it?”

“Wasn’t asking if you took canine language classes,” Lute murmured to himself before stalking towards the two animals, his sword now tucked away so that he would seem more friendly than menacing. As expected, the creatures bristled at his approach; the alpha even stood up and snarled at him. "Calm and gentle won’t do it with that pal,” Delilah sighed.

Before he had even opened his mouth, a loud threatening snarl burst from out of nowhere, the sound directed at the two wolves. Their ears flattened against their skull and their tails swished in the middle of their legs at the double timber. “Would it kill you to cooperate sometimes?” Lute snapped, crossing his arms over his chest as the creatures now folded themselves down on the floor in an act of obedience. “I wasn’t aiming to dominate them; I was pretty much trying to herd them back to the cage!” He wrung his hands in frustration. Delilah waved her hand and remained silent now, of all times.

Lute could feel his face turning red, this time in frustration.

Having lost his first option, he decided to walk backwards to the nearest corral, snapping his fingers and calling out to the wolves as if they were common household pets. After a few minutes (which felt like eternity), Lute had made two decisions to last for a lifetime; one, he was never going to the Coliseum again, and two, he was going to pay beast masters even greater respect from this day onwards. When the animals were inside he hacked at the gears, and the door swung down and trapped the wolves. A pair of beasties down.

A quick glance at the source of the uproar in the audience told him that yep, a pair of beasties down, a giant scorpion and company left.

“Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Hey guys!” Lute’s eyes were oh-so-wide when he returned to the group, his gaze running from Aria to the outraged Moira, before gesturing at the beasts running amok. “Let’s go put that thing down? Before it stings anyone to death? Miss Moira, are you alright? Aria? Blobfish dude? Syed?” After finishing his haphazard scan of his teammates, the virtuoso turned towards the wide walls covering the arena. “How do we get out of the stage, though?”

---

Robin was herding some of the audience out of the Coliseum, although she couldn’t manage the bigger warriors who insisted on fighting some of the creatures. “Oh well, fine! Your funeral!” She exclaimed, exasperated, before heading back to the central line of the stone seats, pushing her way through the throng of panicked spectators. What a great way to end a disqualification, yeah?

She reached Selan and Amy. “Jeff, you can’t take that thing down by yourself! I had Lil call Ruana. Don’t try anything drastic, hey? I am not stitching up your mangled hand again, you hear me, big boy?” After that particular bit of chastisement, she turned towards the cleric and the songstress. “Maybe we should get you two out? Do any of you know the healing arts because we’ve got a room full of wounded back there,” She jerked her thumb towards the back of the Coliseum where people were being wheeled in left and right.

The scorpion ambled over the seats, inching closer to the four of them.

“Or you could fight this thing with that fool Jeff. Just make a decision, please?” Robin turned away as another group of thugs rallied against/with (seriously, in this fray, she wasn’t sure which) Jeff and headed towards the temporary medic camp.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

If I were stuck in the last game I played....

Pretty much okay. Still playing Dark Arisen. 8D With my ever-talkative pawn buddies.
Wait actually you know what...

.... Nope.

And writing up a post, adding more details to the riot.

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

Oi, the only dead persons I can remember are Emily and Numair. I'm horrible.

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Edited! It's a really minor edit (just made him use the back of his sword instead of the blade, then took out the blood thing), but I took the killing off. I actually had a weird "should I really do this" moment on Skype yesterday, haha. I love animals, irl or in-game (except those hellhounds in Dragon's Dogma and their off-putting ability to spit fire at you from like, what, 5 meters away?). Speaking of, have any of you ever played Dragon's Dogma (Dark Arisen)???

EDIT:

HELLHOUNDS GIVING ME HELL

These things just UGH they attack in groups and they spit fireballs and go up in flames and drag you off like you're a chew toy. A burning chew toy.

The Midnight Train to Nowhere

“In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not a real doctor,” Songbird commented wryly as yet another soldier was wheeled in within the ransacked boutique he had (temporarily) utilized as a medic camp. Most of the real doctors, apparently, were partying in Sol’s castle. Oh, psh, they weren’t there because they were scared of the dragons, no; they stayed inside the thick, secure walls of the fortress because there was a steady flow of patients in and out the prince’s rooms!

If you didn’t call that sarcasm, you’re brick dumb.

Songbird sighed and then turned away from the door (and the ensuing chaos happening on the streets outside) to look at the rows and rows of injured fighters. He was already stripped to his shirtsleeves, and somebody (probably Dissonance) had strapped an apron around his waist as if he was baking pastries instead of applying pressure to bloody wounds. A scowl flitted across the item hunter’s face, drawing his smooth features into that surly mask he was so renowned for. Oh this day was just great. Being a guide was just great. Everything was so freaking great. His transition from simple citizen to an insta-nurse was oh-so-great! GREAT!

Thugbird growled before stomping off to the opposite side of the room, giving a bunch of soldiers individual kicks on their armored behinds to remember him by. “Stop crowding around my patient and scram, maggots,” He snarled and the lot of them slithered outside after seeing his expression. Even the poor boy on the bunk became as pale as chalk as Thugbird began applying a splint on his foot.

---

A new bunch of slimes popped out of the nearby bushes, once again surrounding the Lost Souls. This group was bigger than the last, and the lot of them looked ready to pounce and obliterate when the sharp crack of a whip in the air reverberated within the forest and just like that, two of the slimes were sliced in neat halves. Victoria and Avian walked into the clearing, the former with a fierce look of revulsion on her face as she swung her whip up again like a lasso, while the latter was eyeing the sleeping catbus with what seemed like curiosity. However, just when it seemed like the humans were going to be saved by a couple of badasses, a loud rumble burst within the deeper part of the forest and a massive slime monster, one even bigger than the catbus, slid in front of the Lost Souls.

So basically they’d have to contend with that one while the more experienced warriors deal with the babies. Tough life.

“Humans, listen- Oh hey Zephy,” Victoria glanced up and waved at the messenger, who was happily perched on a tree, before returning her attention to the humans. For some reason the appearance of the boss slime caused a flood of its mini friends to pour out from within, like, everywhere, so basically she and her partner weren’t moving anywhere anytime soon. Avian narrowed his eyes before running forward a few steps, facing the incoming slime monsters, and then spun in the air with his blades extended, resulting in goo flying everywhere in copious amounts. Yeah, whatever, it was a fabulous move.

“Freeze that thing to keep it from moving for a short while. Alternate between heat and ice to make it shrink. Oh for pity’s sake, don't try to make it burst!” Victoria called out as her trusty whip hit slime and made it into sashimi. “Force won’t work on that type, so you have to stick with your magic abilities!”

The Legend of Heroes: Tales of the World

Thaum: Coliseum, cage 3

‘Well of course nobody would cheer for the Blobfish Avengers’, Lute thought in an uncharacteristic burst of disloyalty. He wasn’t oblivious to the blank stares the audience gave them, although at least they received a semblance of applause from a biased portion of the viewers, a.k.a Robin and some of her fellow Red Parasols. If cheering for somebody when everybody else didn’t isn’t called friendship, then he didn’t know what would be. His lips twitched up into a wry smile as the memory faded away and he was pulled back into the unseemly present, the return complete with his face almost being baptized in wolf spit.

Great way to complete half the day.

Lute and Aria were at first determined to sweep in and whack at some wolves all by themselves, but a quick glance around showed that the two of them separated was going to be more beneficial rather than the both of them working out tandem attacks; after all, the blobfish murderer and Syed didn’t look so great (Lute didn’t waste a second thinking about Moira’s prowess; he’d bet a sack of potatoes that she was swell).

The virtuoso didn’t have the chance to verbally express his opinion since their super fantastic duo charge was broken when a wolf decided to blindside his partner, although thank the gods that Moira swung that great big sword of hers around and saved Aria. In that instance, the two of them decided to split; he nodded while Aria winked (let it not be said that Lute was already immune to such winks; he still turned pink before flying towards the two cornered men).

Okay, quick analysis of the situation: the blobfish murderer looked confused as hell (and worse, he was holding his sword out like it was the flaming stick of salvation), Syed was (probably) quaking in his boots; they were both being harassed by a wolf who was inching closer and closer. From the corner of his eye Lute could see another beast make a beeline towards the two, having had identified them as easy pickings, and he switched his hold on the sword to reverse grip, with the back of his sword in front. This is exactly why he chose a short blade.

“The lunger’s closest, and you should dispose of it before it mauls that dude.”
“I know, Delilah.”
“Just saying. You tend to prioritize things in the wrong order.”

Lute rolled his eyes and swept his sword upwards in a powerful upward slash. The lunging wolf fell to the ground. “And stay down. Please,” He muttered before paying attention to the other wolf, which was now baring its teeth and advancing at him. He could see Syed inching towards a plain bat which was quite near the wolf earlier on. “Hey Delilah, tell me if something’s going at me from behind, okay?” Lute stage-whispered before trying to change his grip again, except he wasn’t really good at quick switching so he almost ended up slashing his own arm. Good news though; Syed had picked up his bad. Bad news? None.

Yet.

Lute’s eyes flickered towards the dark-skinned mage’s own, and it was almost as if they read each other’s thoughts (“Or maybe you were just hallucinating,” His familiar snorted). Just as Syed raised his bat up over his head to hit the wolf (on the butt?), Lucien let out a battle cry of some sort, swung his sword, let go of said sword (and boy did it fly), which eventually hit the wolf by the face. Lute almost pitied the animal when it whined and dropped down, although the pity was replaced by panic as he realized the sword was still spinning around. He watched as the sword hit the wall of the cage beside him before falling down on the ground, and then gave the man a thumbs up. “That was great! Where did you learn to swing like that?”

The pack’s number’s have considerably thinned down thanks to their team’s efforts, and only two wolves remained. The alpha and another one, and Lute was pretty sure Moira and Aria could deal with those on their own.

Still, where’s the timer? The screen was blank and people didn’t seem that excited.

Lute narrowed his eyes (this was suspicious) and then walked to both Syed and Lucien. “You two alright? Neither of you got bitten, right?” He asked as he handed back Lucien’s sword.