"Not on me- oh wait! I almost forgot." She pulled up her wrist left wrist. There was a thin band made up of black, white, and orange embroidery thread. "This bracelet my best friend made for me; I wear it all the time. It has no magical properties, though, so I doubt the sorceress would have wanted it." She pulled her sleeve back over her wrist. Looking around at the circle of fire, she asked the blonde woman, "Any ideas of how to get out of this thing?"

Max took a deep breath, watching Tauri start to go wandering off... and Aubria show her some twisted rope.  She let out a gust of air, actually wishing the orc would wake up.  She was babysitting.

I'm working on it. She snapped at the girl.

Then going to stand as close to the fire as she dared, she yelled to Tauri.  HEY, GUN BOY?  A break in the fire wasn't just for you... Come back here and try it or when we get out of here, I'll try my best to make sure you won't be able to try it for a very long time! She yelled into the dark, torn between hoping the guy heeded her words or got eaten by some giant magical being.

Shaking her head, Aubria muttered, "Geez, you don't have to be so irritable, lady." She looked around on the ground, but while she did know the kind of grass she was on, she didn't see any other plant that she was aware of that could help her put out a fire. Heck, there weren't any other plants besides the grass.

Aubria sighed, weaving her fingers through her hair. Her mind sorted through the numerous spells she had stored up from years of training. Applying them was going to be much harder than usual, to say the least, since she didn't have most of her materials. Maybe if she could make a step ladder or something...

Then her eyes rested on the blonde. She smirked, almost evilly.

Aubria backed up to the edge of the ring furthest from Max, then began to sprint. Her wand still out, she pointed at her feet and muttered a single word. When Aubria jumped, an invisible force pulled her higher. She landed on the blonde's shoulders and jumped again, arching over the ring of fire with her own momentum.

She landed on the other side with a grunt and rolled further away from the ring of fire, putting out a small fire that had started on her stockings. Several feet from the fire now, Aubria lay on her back panting.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:30, Thu 31 Dec 2009.

Tauri hadn't progressed far, and stopped when he heard a grunt that was closer than the rest of the voices. Normally, he was pretty sure such sounds would be lost among the tweets of birds and the rustling of leaves, but this place...this world was oddly silent.
He spun on his heel, resisting the urge to pin his arms against his side. Instead, he folded them loosely and transferred all his weight to his right leg, and with a casual smile, ran his eyes over the fire once again. It was only after a minute of staring at the flames that he realized someone else was outside of it, sprawled out against the ground. Momentarily, his muscles tensed and his eyes widened. Who else could be out here? Hadn't all the others been trapped inside the ring?
Unless freaky flame lady was making a comeback. Almost reluctantly he drew his gun a second time.
Max had called him 'gun boy', and that wasn't who he wanted to be, but if that 'sorceress' was around again he'd give her another dose of high frequency waves. Much to his chagrin, it was only Aubria, and he rapidly put the gun away again.
His eyes traveled from the woman to the fire. Woman. Fire. Woman. Fire.
"How did you get out of that?" he asked with a simpering expression. He noted her singed stockings, but imagined she'd be more burnt than that if she'd simply bulldozed through it.

Looking up, Aubria glared at the punk, her fingers twitching against her wand. "Miss Blondy makes a good ladder," was all she said as she sat up, then jumped up so she was standing. Her wand was pointed at the ground in her hand.

Well I'll be damned. Max muttered a bit surprised, but not the least upset.   In fact she grinned and looked at the orc.  Okay, now what? She asked the knocked out form.  She could go after them, but she wasn't really inclinded a that moment.

After all, she'd followed them earlier and that hadn't worked out so well and those two weren't seemingly all that safe.

After contemplating this for a few moments, she went back to the orc, streched out and using Kel as a pillow lay down.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:12, Fri 01 Jan 2010.

Tauri’s smile became more genuine. ”I’d bet that was fun.” Hopefully Max doesn’t mind too much. Tauri wondered how he’d react to being used as a ladder, but decided not to dwell on the the concept.

Only a half-smile appeared on her face. "I enjoyed it," she replied, fingering the ends of her hair. "She's rude anyways," she added softly.

Tauri shrugged, still smiling. "I'd never heard of stepping on people, just because they were rude. Though..." He squinted through the flames, trying to get an idea of what Max was doing. "I guess it had other benefits."
This message was last edited by the player at 09:09, Fri 01 Jan 2010.

"Indeed," Aubria replied with a simple nod. She looked past Tauri and into the deep blackness. It didn't bother her much; she loved black, and she fared fairly well in the dark. Without another word, she began walking down the dark path, away from Tauri, and further away from the blonde.

Tauri turned to jog after Aubria, the same way he'd been going before he'd headed back. "Does it look darker there-" he pointed at the black patch "-to you too?"

"Yes," Aubria replied flatly, keeping her eyes ahead of her. "That's why I'm going to investigate." Normally she'd be smiling in a sly or cunning way, but since Tauri was her company, her face remained flat and stoic as she walked.

"Just leaving Max and-" Tauri fumbled his tongue about for a second, almost saying 'orkie', but catching himself just in time "-Kelris in there?" He tossed his arm in the general direction of the flames. "Or do you think there's something up ahead-" His arm arced forward now, like the pendulum of some lopsided clock, to point toward the darkness "-that would help?"

Aubria stopped in her tracks, then turned to face Tauri. "I don't care what happens to Max, quite frankly," she said coldly, presuming that was the blonde's name. "Kelris, though, I do. I'm going to find something to take us back to the tavern and, if I can, to help Kelris revive from whatever that sorceress did to him." She turned around and continued walking.

In spite, or maybe because, of Aubria's hostility, Tauri continued following her. He'd been planning to go this direction, anyway, and it would probably be more fun with company.
Aubria's, in particular.
He wasn't stupid, he could tell she disliked him, but she wasn't the first and certainly wouldn't be the last. Receiving contempt was part of his daily routine, and he was given it from most everyone he interacted with.
No, it wasn't that he wanted to be hated, he'd just become so accustomed to it that  he didn't care whether one disliked him or not.
So, in spite of Aubria's obvious social queues of distaste, he'd follow her.
More for kicks and giggles than for anything else.

Looking back at Tauri, Aubria held back a retort telling him to get away. Being out by herself without the majority of her spell components wasn't the smartest idea for a witch, so Aubria said nothing, silently allowing him to accompany her. He'd at least be her backup in case she ran into any creatures, even if she didn't like him personally.

As she walked, she wished she'd worn a longer dress so her striped stockings could be hidden, but then dropped the thought. She remained stoic as she held out her wand and muttered, "Luminous." A sphere of light appeared on the tip of her wand, and she held it out in front of her as she continued forward silently.

Materializing in the ring of fire, she looked about, a smile coming to her slowly.  Her eyes then held on the prostrate figure of Max using the Orc as a pillow.

Well, well then Pest. She loomed over the figure.  Not the two I expectected to find. She smiled. But I guess vermin find each other. She looked about. They left? Gone off 'exploring? She smiled down at Max.

Tauri heard Aubria mumble something, and her words kindled a glow into life on the edge of her wand. The light slipped along the trunks of trees, bringing the terribly dull hues of this world into a sharper clarity.
"If I were creepy Ms. what's-her-bucket, I'd stay at the tavern, or go somewhere happier. This place is kinda...drab." Boring, empty, colorless. Boy, I feel at home already.

Max opened her eyes slowly, staring up at the ugly woman.  Yup. She answered and started to close her eyes again.

"Indeed," Aubria replied flatly, walking along. She was still reluctant to converse with the punk from the future.

Suddenly, her gut instinct told her something was wrong. She looked back at the distant ring of fire- and broke into a run away from it.

She nodded and looked out into the blackness the spot of light like a homing device and smiled again.  Good. She laughed  and seemed to be making to leave.

"Woah! Hey, wait!" Tauri accelerated his pace to match hers, and then exceed it so he could catch up to her. "I didn't say anything that stupid, did I?"
This message was last edited by the player at 01:23, Sat 02 Jan 2010.

"No, it's not you," Aubria said in a hushed voice as she ran. She whispered a word, and her light went out. "I think someone's following us." Her magic senses weren't wrong on that, she was certain.

Tauri spun his head around to look behind himself, nearly veering into a tree as he did so. Quickly, he righted himself and drew level with Aubria.
"What makes you think that?" he hissed, his voice lowered considerably.

"I sense a magic-filled presence," was all Aubria had the breath to reply as she concentrated on running.