"See, that wasn't really that hard, was it?" he slips his mask into a pouch under his coat, the glint of steel at his hip revealed as he does so.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"And what's that?" said Kendrik. He bared his teeth again as he stared at the blade in the man's coat. Suspicious confirmed. At least he could pull out his rapier quickly if needed. The rapier had a distance advantage, and probably a power advantage too, if the man had a dagger. If that didn't work, Kendrik had his claws and canines. If that didn't work, he had Jaron -
Jaron wasn't behind the rock.
Kendrik's heartrate doubled for a second or two, eyes darting all over the place, only to recognize the fox sitting next to what had been the passed-out man. The hound breathed a sigh of relief. Jaron was still closer to the once-masked stranger than Kendrik, but Jaron could defend himself. Besides, as weak and pitiful as the formerly passed-out man looked, it made sense why Jaron would head over. Jaron could relate.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
"What, you have some means of defense, why can't I?"
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James slowly turned his head to the hound and the formerly masked man.
"It's less likely to find someone unarmed in this forest than to find someone with a weapon on them. Don't act so surprised," he said softly, though loud enough for them to hear.
"I just want ta know what it is," Kendrik said through gritted teeth. "'cause we can't have secrets if we're going ta share."
Jaron nodded at the once passed-out man's statement. He pulled out his wrench, pocketing it after a couple seconds. A question he should've asked a while ago - one of those social ones, the ones he never understood the point of - popped into his head. He turned to the once passed-out man and stammered out, "What's your name?"
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
James blinked. "Thomas," he replied simply. With a pained expression he reached into his jacket and pulled out his gun, showing it briefly to the fox before tucking it back in. "...Yours?"
"Jaron," the fox whispered. He tentatively reached for Thomas's jacket, curious about the weapon that Thomas had pulled out of it. Jaron hesitated; that probably wouldn't be a nice thing to do. He moved his hand back. "Jaron Lane Beresford."
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
"Kratzer, der Silberfuchs," the German introduced himself, pulling back his jacket to reveal two gleaming knives with blades as long as his forearm and pulling a slide-action, semi-automatic pistol from the back of his belt.
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
"Raiden," a voice said, as a figure walked out from the shadows. "My name's Raiden." He held up a black switchblade before sliding it back into the sheathe behind his back.
I'm cool as a cucumber Even if I'm in a pickle
Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.
He had been silently watched the entire proceedings to get some sense of what was going on, but his brain had stop functioning correctly the moment he realized he had been held captive by a talking hound. Even he couldn't easily deal with things like that. Add on the talking fox, strange clothes of almost everyone present and the abundance of unusual weapons, and he was more than a little spooked by the situation.
He had started to make his way over to the mouth of the cave to see if the weather had improved, but stopped when he realized that the thunderstorm was still going in full force. He was stuck here with a bunch of people he couldn't even begin to explain.
"I'm Reyes. Reyes Eberhardt," he said, leaning up against one of the larger rocks near the entrance. He was an actor at heart. If he needed to act like he wasn't freaking out about this whole situation, he would. "Usually saying my name rings a few bells, but I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm not in Kansas anymore."
There's me, Envy, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Sloth and Reyes.
"I'm Reyes. Reyes Eberhardt," he said
*narrows eyes*
"Ya think?" said Kendrik. He didn't know where Kansas was, but he was pretty sure this wasn't it. Maybe Kansas wasn't so crowded. Or had this many weapons lying around.
Kendrik couldn't help but feel like the smallest person in the room, particularly after the demonstration that Kratzer had provided. He gestured for Jaron to come over. After a few seconds of hesitation, the fox rose up and walked to a spot just behind Kendrik. Now the hound could breathe easier. "I'm Kendrik," he said.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
"I think it's safe to say we're a long ways from Kansas," Kratzer said, eyeing the dog and the fox. "A very, very long way."
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
James didn't know where Kansas was, nor has he ever heard of it before. He wearily watched the conversation, as yet another person emerged, making for a cave full of strangers - none of which he was interested in engaging conversation with.
As long as he stayed silent, and kept to himself, he hoped none of them would bother him. He knew he looked as tired as he felt, so they had to reasonable reason to see him as a threat.
He sighed, hoping that if he could just wait out the storm, he could leave this place.
Jaron couldn't stand Kratzer's stare. Those piercing eyes seemed to be looking right through Kendrik to focus on Jaron, as though Kratzer could spot the fox's twitching nose and rising fur. Jaron envisioned the mask, which had looked so familiar and so alien at the same time. He felt as though the carvings on the mask were burning onto his face. A mask. Something to hide behind. He'd been doing a lot of hiding. He was getting sick of hiding. And besides, Kendrik would follow, right?
Taking a few steps back, Jaron went further into the cave. Swallowed by the darkness, he didn't notice what was behind him until he ran into it. Clang! Wheeling around, Jaron saw a giant metal door in the shape of a half-circle. It loomed over his head, faintly illuminated by a red glow at the door's center, where a series of knobs with strange symbols rested beneath a rectangle with a glass screen and a blinking blue light.
On looking closer - the lights were too alluring, the bolts and knobs in the metal too familiar - Jaron noticed a few of the symbols had sightly less dust on them:
E I O S G H ' C N M
Spoiler
Plot stuff/anagram time! Yes, Jaron is looking at a keyboard.
S'io credesse che mia risposta fosse a persona che mai tornasse al mondo, questa fiamma staria senza piu scosse. Ma per ciò che giammai di questo fondo non tornò vivo alcun, s'i' odo il vero, senza tema d'infamia ti rispondo.
The first thing he noticed about the hound was his rising heartbeat, deafening in comparison to Thomas'. The second was that he slipped away fairly quickly - he intimidated him, of that he was certain. On the one hand that meant he didn't have to worry about games; on the other, it meant that Jaron could potentially be dangerous to him out of fear. So, he should make sure to keep an eye on him, or an ear out, at any rate, as Jaron disappeared into the shadows.
Clang!
He frowned, glancing over at Thomas and Kendrik before following to see what was going on. "You alright down there, hund?"
Spoiler
I had a moment there when I was typing James' alias where I was like 'umm...Philip? Mark? Matt? Mike??????
"All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost."
