Moon: I'll try to post at least once a day for the next week or so, but that's because I already have the first 10 chappies typed up and all I need to do is edit them. after that, I actually have to type them up, so the wait will be longer.
One of my goals is to torture every original character in this story, and this is the beginning of it.
When it was all over, two days later, the girls came out. They all shared a look.
"To survive, we'll need weapons and armor. Anyone have any preferences?" Noeli had unintentionally declared herself leader, and no one argued.
"I'm not an archer, so now bow for me." Nelena declared.
"We should all get daggers." Ria said.
"Everyone adorn yourselves in armor." Raul instructed.
"And our choice of weapons." Lilly reminded.
"We'll all discuss issues if they arise." Noeli was being all leader-like.
They picked through the pile. Raul chose white vambraces, shin guards, and a chain mail t-shirt. When she put it all on, the chain protected her down to the knees and down to the elbows. She also grabbed a dagger and a belt. Nelena chose a helmet, a leather shirt, a dagger, and a long sword with a back sheath. It fit well. Noeli grabbed a dagger, a leather shirt, and leather shin guards. Lilly and Ria got decked out in leather shirts, plate skirts, and leather wrist guards. Nelena gave Noeli her pack. When they were finished, they all looked at one another.
"We look like warriors." Ria said.
"Let's practice combat." Nelena suggested. "Noeli's dagger vs. my long sword. Lilly and Ria can have target practice. And Raul…"
"I got it covered." Raul cut her off. Nelena shrugged. Lilly and Ria went off to create targets on trees. Noeli drew her dagger as Nelena drew her sword. Raul walked off.
Nelena slashed at Noeli, but she blocked with her dagger easily. Nelena's balance was gone, and Noeli took the opportunity to slash at Nelena. It hit her collar, creating a rip in the leather shirt. But no blood came.
"Being an ent-child gave you natural armor or what?" Noeli said. Nelena shrugged and swung at Noeli's abs. The dagger intercepted again, but Nelena was ready. She let her weapon slide off its smaller version and went for the exposed ribs. Blocked. A quick upper swing. Blocked. Nelena then executed rapid strikes to the head, abs, and knees. Noeli jumped over the low attacks, ducked the high ones, and blocked the middle ones. She dodged some of them, too. Nelena kept the rapid fire up, keeping Noeli on the defensive. Nelena swung to the shoulder. Noeli blocked with the dagger. Reflex must have taken over, because she punched Nelena in the gut. It wasn't very strong, seeing as the attack was with her left hand. But Nelena still went "Ooof."
"What was that!?" Nelena yelled.
"I don't know." Noeli said back, startled.
Nelena looked at her opponent's left hand. Her eyes went wide; she chuckled, and then burst out laughing. "Dwarves must have been short miners or something that has to do with rock." She laughed again.
Noeli looked at her fist and froze. It had become a stone gauntlet. She flexed her fingers, and the stone moved as if it weren't there. She was kinda freaked by this, and willed it to get off. It did. It formed a soccerball-sized rock and stayed floating a few inches from her hand. She willed it to drop. It did. She willed it to come up to head height. It did. Obviously. Since it was now at eye level, she noticed that Nelena was laughing really hard. She willed it to land on Nelena's toe. Painful is an understatement for a solid rock soccerball falling on your foot from 4 ft 5 in off the ground. Nelena cursed gravity.
Meanwhile, our friends Lilly and Ria were having target practice. Or, bow practice.
Lilly stepped on the handle and tried to pull the string across. She failed. Ria couldn't even put it on one end, forget the other. Lilly let go, panting. Ria grunted because the knot she had tied came undone. Lilly decided to try again. She grabbed the already attached end and held the non-attached end away from her. She tried to pull the cord, but when the strain became to great, she let go. Bad mistake. The string flew back and whipped her face. Ria laughed. Lilly frowned because she had a red line running along her face. Lilly got so mad that she lunged at Ria, but her foot caught on something. Furious, she looked behind her to find that the tripping had strung her bow. Deflated. That's the word to describe it. But she shrugged and picked up her bow. At this point, Ria stopped laughing long enough to string her bow. She knocked an arrow and pulled back just a bit. Her finger slipped, and her arrow flew. It wasn't a powerful shot, so it didn't fly fast. But it flew fast enough.
Lilly jumped when she felt something sharp hit her butt. It was like a poke, and no injury resulted, but still. Ria had shot her in the butt! Lilly took her fury out on the tree with an arrow, courtesy of her posterior. The arrow missed the mark, but sure did some damage to the tree that happened to be next to the target.
The little sisters, as Raul and Nelena called Lilly and Ria, headed back to the armor pile after a while of shooting. Lilly had gotten a few in the target, finally, and Ria was pretty good at it. They found Nelena and Noeli sitting, panting, against a tree. "Sandwiches?" Noeli offered, indicating her pack. Lilly and Ria gratefully accepted.
"Raul came, had a bite, and then went off." Nelena informed them. They shrugged.
"Anyone want close combat practice?" Noeli offered.
"We should be able to defend ourselves…" Ria trailed off, then looked to Lilly. Lilly nodded.
"Well, it has been two days, and the sun's up, so I'm going to take a bath." Nelena informed them. She then got up and headed towards the stream nearby, courtesy of the ents releasing the river. She started to pull off some of the gear, when she dropped her gloves into the water. They rushed off with the current, going too fast for her to catch them. She shrugged.
It was a cold bath, but the rushing water sure cleaned her fast. She walked back to the camp, or whatever, clean, but still in the quite filthy armor of the wild men. She caught sight of them before they saw her. Lilly was sitting, winded. Noeli was on offensive this time, and Ria could only try to keep up. Nelena nodded to Lilly, who in turn went to the stream. She went in, and then lifted her hand out of the water. The water formed into a ball floating just above her palm. She stared at it. I'm a waterbender!
Later, when it was about dark, the girls found cloaks in the pile. Even though they smelled, the girls found sleep lying on them. The bug population was not a problem for some reason, and the moonlight was comforting. As Noeli rolled around, she ended up on her back. Fear of what might happen kept her awake, until she saw the moon. Glad the moon here is the same as it as at home. She thought to herself. That was her last thought before sleep finally overcame her.
Phoenix: WHAT!
Moon: ?
Phoenix: The first character to get tortured is ME!?
Moon: You know you juts gave out which character you are, right?
Phoenix: ... steam coming out of ears...
Moon: XDDDDD
Phoenix: Urusai!
Moon: No, Baka!