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Post by Riven on Dec 17, 2006 14:01:57 GMT -5
Now that was better. Anger was always preferable to sadness. He could handle being yelled at.
“You forget... I don’t have a home,” he said with a shrug of his shoulder. He shouldn’t be goading her, but she made it so easy. Of course he didn’t know what it was like to be a seer. What kind of a stupid question was that? It still wasn’t a reason to cry. It was a reason to suck it up and fight.
“So why do you tell us? Why not tell Faragonda so she can get her little fairies together to fight it? If this is all as important as you say it is, she’ll band the three schools together again and we’ll all fight it,” he said, evenly. “If you know what realms are next, then inform the leaders of those realms so they can prepare their own armies! Crying to the members of what is now the worst squad at Red Fountain will solve nothing.”
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Post by Chris Strongheart on Dec 17, 2006 14:08:54 GMT -5
"Faragonda thinks I'm over reacting," she said. "And Saladin's unable to do anything right now," she said, not really wanting to tell Riven that Saladin was now a salmander - that was just wrong on many levels. "Cordatorta's trying to run the school and trying to talk to Ms Griffin about my fears is a farce," she said, crossing her arms over her chest, lowering her gaze. "And most leaders of the other realms think a "child" queen shouldn't be telling them what to do even if she is a seer and has seen what is to come," she added bitterly. "I may be eighteen but I know what I'm talking about."
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Post by Riven on Dec 17, 2006 14:21:25 GMT -5
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Riven replied, the bite fading from his words. “If one realm has already been attacked, isn’t that proof enough to believe you? So tell them the next place, and when it gets attacked then they’ll have to do something. If not, then to hell with them all.”
But something else she said lingered in his subconscious before battling to the forefront of his mind.
“Did you say ‘queen’?”
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Post by Chris Strongheart on Dec 17, 2006 14:27:47 GMT -5
"Yeah, got coronated and everything," she said, looking faintly amused. "Nothing terribly exciting. Just more paperwork - at least being a student here got me used to that," she added, a faint amused look glittering in her eyes.
"As for telling the realms, I tried, but they don't believe that someone could break out of Omega and do what I saw. They think Andros was a fluke."
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Post by Riven on Dec 17, 2006 14:32:52 GMT -5
A queen. Just great. It was bad enough that a bunch of little princes were trying to play Specialist, but now a queen?
“Well, forgive my ignorance, your highness,” he replied, his words dripping sarcasm. “But trying once isn’t trying hard enough. If you can lower yourself to taking advice from a mere peasant, then try why I just said. Tell them about the next place, and once it falls, then they’ll be idiots not to believe you. And all the damage caused will be on their heads.”
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Post by Chris Strongheart on Dec 17, 2006 14:44:04 GMT -5
"I've tried, more than once, but they don't hear my words, they see the messagener and go with that. She's only eighteen what does she know? is the common refrain from some of the advisors. So she's Melisande's daughter, a powerful seer, so what? Oh, and my favorite. What the hell are you talking about, my seer sees nothing like that," she said bitterly.
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Post by Riven on Dec 17, 2006 14:50:03 GMT -5
Again, again, she wasn’t listening. She had her head up her own ass just about as far as Sky did. In that respect they made the perfect couple.
“Are you even listening to a word I’m saying? Let me slow it down so your little feminine brain can process it,” he spat. Leaning down so his face was level with hers, he made sure to exaggeratingly mouth all the words as he said them, complete with hand gestures.
“You predict the downfall of an empire. They ignore you, the empire falls, and they have to kick themselves because they could have stopped it. If it doesn’t work then you predict the downfall of an empire. See the pattern here? They aren’t as stupid as you think. It won’t happen many times before they wise up.”
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Post by Chris Strongheart on Dec 17, 2006 14:57:07 GMT -5
"I suppose," she said, reluctantly agreeing. She froze, her eyes going wide. She took a step back, the color leaving her features as she stared far past Riven, into the night, into the darkness that gathered around them. It was happening - something was happening. She could feel it, see it.
A man, a man stood before her, a man with darkness in his very being. He was powerful, and she was not.
She shook her head, trying to clear it, trying to break free from the vision. No she mouthed.
She saw the man, watched him walk down the path leading to a castle, watched him parade boldly into the castle, turning the guards as he went. Then, on the throne she saw the figures. A king and a queen. She knew she knew who they were, but she couldn't place them, couldn't remember.
Then, then she knew.
"Eraklyon," she whispered before dropping to the ground, half concious.
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Post by Riven on Dec 17, 2006 15:25:11 GMT -5
The second he saw the distant look on her face, he knew what was happening. He may have been gone a long time, but it wasn’t something one forgot. It was happening all over again. This wasn’t why he had returned. This wasn’t what he’d signed up for.
She Chris suddenly went boneless, he was ready for her. Catching her as she fell, he eased her to the floor. For a moment, while her eyes were closed, he allowed the look of concern to show on his face but it didn’t last long. Even if she didn’t want his advice, he was going to give it to her. It was obvious nobody else in this place was capable of thinking with their heads, including her.
“Alright, that’s enough. Here’s what you’re going to do,” he started. He knew she could hear him so he was going to plough through with it all before she was strong enough to protest. “You’re going to make a laundry list of all the places this wizard is going to attack. Then you’re going to give this list to Faragonda or someone with authority. Hell, give it to the ruler of every realm on the list as well as the head of all the schools. Then you’re going to leave here and go back to your kingdom and rule it like you’re supposed to do. Nobody is ever going to take you seriously as a queen while you’re playing school with the boys. If you want their respect, you have to earn it. So far they only see you as a little girl because that is how you act.”
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Post by Chris Strongheart on Dec 17, 2006 15:31:27 GMT -5
Christine's eyes slowly opened, a look of fear on her face. "I'll do everything but cut and run. I'm a specialist, Riven. Regardless of my gender and of how delicate and feminine I can be, I'm a member of a team that's falling apart and I refuse to leave. Besides," she groaned, trying to keep her thoughts together, strained as they were. "We need at least one royal on the team since Sky's going to be making like a bat out of hell since his realm's next."
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Post by Riven on Dec 17, 2006 15:40:08 GMT -5
Getting back to his feet, Riven shook his head as he looked down at her.
“Yeah, you should know,” he muttered in regards to their team falling apart. Everything had been fine until she’d gotten here. What was that Earth analogy with that famous British band? They had been torn apart by some woman – Yakko Bono or something. This was precisely the same thing.
But that wasn’t the point.
“That’s not the point. We will do fine without you. You would be more help to us as Queen. Think of the authority and the pull you’d have with that power! You’d have armies of your own to command. Having a royal on the team means squat if we get the leader of a realm on our side.”
They needed at least one royal on the team? What the hell was that supposed to mean, anyways? That he wasn’t worth anything because he wasn’t of noble blood? God damn royalty always looking down their noses at him.
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Post by Chris Strongheart on Dec 17, 2006 23:51:21 GMT -5
"What army?" Christine asked bluntly. "The army was disbanded long before I got crowned queen. We don't even have anyone besides my uncle and my father capable of training the young men. Even if we did, we wouldn't be able to do anything. The wizard? He can make minions out of anyone, anything," she said, trying to remain calm.
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Post by Riven on Dec 18, 2006 18:13:08 GMT -5
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Riven breathed out a slow breath.
“Why are you telling me this, Chris?” he asked, sounding completely exasperated. “You don’t want my advice, you shoot down any suggestion I make... what’s the point? What’s the good of these god damn visions of yours if you won’t do shit all about them?”
He should never have come back. It was happening all over again. He’d barely unpacked and already he was getting dragged into the same old angst fest. Couldn’t he have a moment’s rest?
“You, Sky... neither of you have noticed what a joke our team has become. We can’t do anything to fight this so called evil you’re crying about! Sorry to tell you, sweetheart, but we’re just not good enough anymore. You and Sky made sure of that by letting your little soap opera drama take over the team,” he ranted, his voice rising as he went on.
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