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11-13-2016, 08:32 PM
| The king's words greeted her before his body did. Although she unconsciously stiffened at the sound of her name leaving his lips (thanks a lot Father), her mind was open to his advice. Although some might have chalked up her willingness to heed Tembovu's words to some misappropriate needed for paternal guidance, it was much less Freudian than that. Although many viewed Isopia as a self-righteous condescending asshole (a portrayal she would have denied, if asked), she was always up for learning new things and always welcomed having her point of view challenged. In this case, she offered no retort to the king. He was right after all; this was between them in this moment, and she did need to focus. His words were cut off by a grunt, and Isopia veered her body towards the sound. Directional hearing might not have been her forte, but she wasn't a fan of playing hide and magical-seek in the mists any longer. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, or perhaps Isopia's youthful days lived in the Edge were really so far behind her now, but Tembovu's body appeared out of the dense atmosphere much faster than she would have thought possible. Though her dragon's body was impressive in many ways, Isopia didn't spend much of her time in it. Thus when she tried to slam on the metaphorical breaks, her clawed hands found no hold upon the stony ground. She received bruised palms, but no real reduction in speed, and her body continued to hurtle forward in a way that her equine one would likely not have done. Tembovu's horn found the gentle swell of her right shoulder, and rather than hugging the muscular curve there, it went straight through. Despite the scales that lined this body, his horn punctured the muscle of her shoulder, driving forward and then tearing to the side as Isopia instinctively pulled away from the pain. STUPID, she screamed mentally to her body, above a new maelstrom of agony. She knew pulling away was the wrong thing to do. Had she retreated instead of shying to the side, his horn might have come out the way it went in. What her body had done was against all of her training, all of the hours she had devoted to trying to overcome her instincts and be better than just the animalistic set of preferences that lurked inside of her. And she had failed. Blood flowed steadily from the wound at first. Then as her already blood-coloured cloak brushed against it, the cloth stuck to the torn flesh. Although this helped hide it from the cool, biting air, there was still enough loose skin hanging from the wound that every time her cloak shifted, it renewed the wound's cries of pain. Isopia wanted to cry out too (somewhere deep inside of herself, the emotional part of her soul craved the opportunity to scream or even sob - it whispered that it would make her feel better and lessen the pain), but Tembovu's words echoed in her mind; focus Isopia. And so she did. The demigoddess's breathing was shaky, indicating her need and want to release the torment welling up inside of her, but she refrained. She had awkwardly skirted away from the Elephant's right side, moving to her left. Physical attacks might have been his default setting, but hers was still magical. Reaching inward for the magic given to her by the Falls, she doused her wound with mental magic that helped numb the pain enough that she would only have to deal with the literal fog around them, rather than the mental fog Tembovu's attack had added. Isopia tried to put some distance between them (but not enough that he was once again swallowed by the haze around them), while nursing her right shoulder. Luckily as a dragon, it was much easier to move on just three limbs. Once she judged she was far enough away to turn back to face him, she leaned back on just her hind-legs, sitting there in a way that equines couldn't sustain for long. With a grunt of effort (there was only so much her warrior's spirit magic could do to dull the pain), Isopia threw yet another amalgamation of rocks Tembovu's way. Though these stones were without form, they weren't without heat. They were aimed mostly defensively, to bar him from getting too close and skewering her again. But if she could return some of the pain he had just given her, she wouldn't have minded. Absentmindedly, Hubris rubbed his own shoulder, wincing at the pain he felt through their bond. He looked imploringly towards Mbwene, trying to discern how much longer this was going to go on for, and if there was anything they could do to stop it. 4/4 WC: 800 Isopia
Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
|
@Tembovu
Alright King, this challenge here is almost at an end.
But I think even if I win, it'll still be me who stands condemned.
So I'm going to say my piece just one more time and see if it gets through,
After that it's out of our hands, and we'll wait for the judicial review.
Right and wrong, good or bad, lets put all that aside for a minute,
And talk about how Helovia is and the way things work within it.
Your Queen Alysanne said stealing is just the way things are,
It's part of what a sleuth does, to say anything else would be bizarre.
If we accept that that's the case (and I never did say otherwise),
Then let's look at our job descriptions - and this is the part to emphasize,
Leaders are supposed to be the champions of their subjects,
advocating on their behalf, cause anytime they do less -
They're hauled out of office faster than you can say Kisamoa,
So i'm just here doing my job, that's all I'm tryin' to show ya'.
This here challenge wasn't meant to start an uproar.
This is just about some bags, I'm not trying to start a war.
On the sidelines I hear them talking about me burning bridges down,
But they've got it all wrong,
this is just one little battle, it don't matter that we wear a crown.
