Strauss Siblings I
"Gah!" Elfman moaned, his hands over his ears, "Can't they just shut up?!"
"No, I don't think they can," Lisanna answered, rubbing her head.
"This almost reminds me of Fairy Tail," Elfman said, "If Fairy Tail was full of mad cows that were constantly drunk."
"Don't compare these guys to Fairy Tail," Lisanna said with a frown, "They're not even close." However, that didn't make them any less loud. All that braying and roaring was close to making their ears bleed.
The Strauss siblings quite the adventure when they landed in this new world. Just their luck, they got dropped in the path of nearly 600 hairy, stinking, creatures they found out were called "Beastmen". While they were humanoid in appearance, that was the only human thing about them; they all had traits of goats and cows, features that made both siblings skin crawl. They were nearly captured, though they managed to fight off the worst of them using their Take Over magic. The Beastmen were apparently impressed by their magic, and they were allowed to join. Not long after, Elfman promptly killed their leader using his Beast Soul, and apparently by Beastmen law (though both siblings doubted that word's applicability), he was now the leader of the tribe, though he essentially shared the role with Lisanna.
The takeover hadn't been easy, and for the first three days of their leadership, the Strausses had to deal with all sorts of insurrection. By the end of it all, they probably had only about 500. According to the various members of the warherd, they were on the outskirts of a massive forest, which the herd had been marching into. For the time they were making camp in a small ravine; while the beasts themselves were in the ravine, Lisanna and Elfman kept to the edges of the ravine, so they could have a look down on them. They were now marching the herd West, hopefully out of the forest.
As things stood, the herd consisted almost entirely of what were referred to as "gors", though there were several Beastmen who were somewhat more human in appearance, in that they lacked animal heads and were called "ungors". Occasionally, they were trailed by harpies, and Lisanna and Elfman heard of minotaurs, though they had to see them. Then there were "cygors", but according to the Beastmen, they fed on the souls of wizards. That didn't make either of the siblings want them in their army.
"We need to keep moving," Lisanna said, "The longer we stay put, the more restless they'll be."
"Keep going East, right?" Elfman asked.
"Until we get out of the forest," Lisanna confirmed, "Maybe then we can ditch these guys." Elfman nodded, before turning towards the ravine.
"Alright everyone!" he called, "Get your hairy asses off the ground! We're marching again!" After some groaning, the Beastmen pulled themselves up. As they were doing it, Lisanna and Elfman noticed a large cluster of them gathered in a circle. That normally meant trouble, so the siblings went down to confront them.
"Hey, jackasses!" Elfman said, swatting one of them over the head as they approached, "You know you aren't supposed to be scheming here." Several of the Beastmen growled before Elfman.
"We have no schemes, Master," one of the Beastmen, who was named Tarak, said, "We were merely discussing something."
"Care to elaborate?" Lisanna said.
"Word on the path," Tarak said, leaning forward slightly, "The warherd of Garmot the Three-Horn is marching on the filthy elves."
"We should join them!" Martor declared, "We will crush their weak waystones and build our own great herdstones in the name of the gods!" Bellows of agreement sounded out. That didn't necessarily surprise the siblings, considering what they had heard in the past. But they had to encounter these elves, or any of the "tree monsters", that were said to lurk in this forest, and they didn't particularly want to.
"No way," Lisanna said, "We are not marching out to war." All the beasts looked at them in confusion.
"Why not?" another asked, "They are our kin."
"Its a conflict we have no stake in," Lisanna answered, "We won't waste our energy and potentially our lives on some pointless campaign."
"Nothing done in the name of the gods is pointless," Martor growled, approaching them.
"How many elves do you think are coming?" Lisanna asked, "You do remember we're in their territory, right?"
"It doesn't matter," Martor said, "Our gods will carry us to victory as they always have. We will crush them under our hooves as we always have."
"Well, last I checked, the decision was our's, not your's," Lisanna said, poking Martor in the chest. The beast growled even leader.
"Think you're tough?" Elfman said, "You heard Lisanna, we're not doing any of this."
"Coward!" Martor declared pointing, "You would make us weak!" There were several growls of agreement.
"Last I checked, I beat you and your last master without much trouble," Elfman growled right back, "You want to test your luck?" Martor's answer was quite simple. He grabbed his axe and charged Elfman, who easily side-stepped the clumsy attack.
"Beast Arm: Black Bull!" Elfman said, transforming his arm. He then punched Martor in the back, sending him tumbling back, and crashing into the tree. A groan signified that he was still alive.
"Anyone else?" Elfman dared, holding up his fist. No one challenged him.
"Real men accept all challenges," Elfman declared, slamming his fist into his palm, "See to it that you remember that."
"This is our herd," Lisanna said, walking up putting her boot on Martor's head, "Are you going to keep questioning us?"
"No," Martor growled, glaring up at Lisanna, "You are the leaders."
"Good," Lisanna said, "Now pack it up, we're moving on! That includes you goat boy." She let Martor get up, and as he was leaving, she kicked him in the ass for good measure. He growled at her again, but didn't do anything else.
"Sooner or later they might not accept defeat like that," Lisanna said. They had quickly learned that the only way to maintain their authority, the Strausses had to show off there strength. The slightest sign of weakness, and the Beastmen would be upon them like…. well, beasts.
"Come on," Lisanna said, "No sense waiting any longer."
"March!" Elfman said, as with that, the herd continued advancing.
Note: Lisanna and Elfman could be having a better time with the Beastmen, but they could also be having a worse time I suppose. At least as times with the Beastmen go.
This piece was mostly to establish their location, and what's happening to them.
I know the Beastmen speak their own language, but for the same reason Lucy can understand the Lizardmen. The Beastmen present an otherwise unique challenge to write for in this story. While the Dark Elves and the Greenskins are destructive, dangerous beings, they are no friends of Chaos, whereas the Beastmen essentially belong to Chaos. To that end, the lore will be the skeleton, but I'm going to be creating my own muscle for it. There are going to be some major consequences for Lisanna and Elfman, which I won't elaborate on.
For the time, I'm approaching their society as one based on dominance of strength. The strongest rules, and the strongest must routinely enforce their rule, and remind the others of their place.
Please review. Next chapter, we're seeing Mira in Naggaroth.