The Tarots II RP

"Injured you say?" Climbing to his feet, Nerus frowned as he glanced at the doorway consideringly. "Bring him in, heal him up, but be careful. We don't know if he's hostile or not." As Nerus spoke, he began to make his towards the unconscious body of the Sefalian soldier, or if he's to be believed, former. Hoisting the body over his shoulder, albeit with a good bit of difficulty, Nerus began to make his way towards the staircase. "Meanwhile, I'll be having a chat with our friend here." As he began to climb though, his ears picked up a noise outside the house.

Sighing, Nerus glanced back tiredly at the group, "If someone won't mind. Please find out what that was?" He requested with exasperation. 'It's like cockroaches, they just keep popping up.' As he made it to the top of the stair case, he quietly picked a room and after entering he dropped the man on the floor, waking him in the process.

"Alright, I don't think either of us can be bothered with this, now talk." The archer ordered, his wariness making itself more apparent in his gaze. "You've claimed you're a tarot, and your display of power out there proves you may be one, but I've never heard of a tarot with that type of power before."

 

"I'll take care of it." Lufu said and swiftly made a gesture with his index finger.

Outside, three shadowy blobs materialised into Vanitas behind Tyrill, and quietly turned their hands into swords and sickles. Then, one of the Vanitas approached the man and tapped him on the shoulder, their grins widening to almost non-human width.

 

Elreen was still a bit groggy when he woke, and trembling as well. His fingers seemed jittery; he just couldn't keep them still. He forced himself into a sitting position and looked up at his captor and host. He a skittering of fear crawl along his back, locked there by the man's piercing, blue gaze. "I don't figure you would have. I was confused as well," he finally spoke, chuckling meekly. "Looked it up in all 'em history books. Sefal history doesn't really like to talk about the Tarots too much."

He removed the chest plate of his armor and moved aside the collar of his undershirt, to reveal the numerals IV emblazoned over his heart. "The Emperor, I think it's called," he said, though he didn't sound very sure. "But I do know that I can control sound, even make it a physical force if I try." He adjusted the furry ear muffs he kept around his neck and laughed. "But you'd probably rather know my name. My name is Elreen Rexel."

Carefully, unsteadily, he stood and reached his hand forward in greeting. Then, there was an audible slap as his hand whipped across Nerus' cheek. "I, uh..." Elreen mumbled, a bit dazed. "Forgive that. I was going for a handshake. Seems I'm not in full control of myself." Unsuccessfully, he tried laughing it off, even as his stance began to lean a bit. He gave himself a little mental kick for such an awkward response.

 

Aurora looked at Lufu and then to the door. She opened the door up for him and crouched down to the man's level, "Are you ok, I am going to move you, I want you to relax, I am not going to harm you" She tapped the man causing him to become weightless, Aurora held his hand as he gently floated upward as to keep him from just continuing to go up. She gently moved him inside and then helped him back to the ground inside before snapping and having the ability she gave to him removed, "There we go, all right, can we get a medic over here to take a look at him?"

 

After catching her breath, Amaryllis somehow managed to regain her stance. Walking through the front door, she noticed Aurora there with a wounded man. Deciding that interrogation and perceived danger of the strangers could wait, she spoke to the other girl.

"I brought some food." She passed Aurora a bagful of fruits she picked out. "It's not enough to feed everyone, I can go get more if you need to." Fortunately the little respite of a nap gave her some energy from carrying Enya most of the way from the battlefield, and she could manage more scouting if needed.

 

"You made it back safely. Just rest for now. We have a few Tarots now that are relatively fresh still and should be able to handle a few spies if needed." Enya commented as she sat in her spot waiting for Blue Stripe to be done with his interogation and for her to regain some energy. She yawned heavily as the adrenaline was being flushed from her system and blinked heavily to stay awake.

 

Blinking as he felt the stinging sensation on his cheek, Nerus began to grit his teeth a snarl appearing on his face. Robotically he began to turn his head back to stare the other man in his eyes, crackles of lightning beginning to appear along his shoulders, making its way down to his elbow. Raising his hand he slammed it down onto the other man's shoulder, the lightning suddenly dispersing inches before his hand made contact. Suddenly Nerus began to roar with laughter.

"It's good to see you can stand up for yourself, Emperor!" He chortled, his grip tightening as the laughter began to quiet until Nerus's blue eyes glared into the other mans, "But if you hit me again. You will regret it, understood friend?" He growled out, releasing a small shock into the other man. Brightening up with a grin, even if it was hidden behind his mask, Nerus stepped away from the armoured individual and began to ponder allowed. "I'll admit I've heard of the Emperor tarot before, your predecessor was supposed to be rather frightening although from what I've learned his power was different from your own." Giving the emperor tarot a searching stare, Nerus continued. "But you've proved you're who you say you are with that mark. Quite the mystery no?" He asked rhetorically.

"Tell me, Emperor, you've proven you're who you say you are. Despite this, why should I believe you no longer serve Sefal, or if you even had originally? More importantly though, what is the reason you came here specifically?" Nerus asked any sign of his previous cheer disappearing, its place taken by the deadly seriousness only found in a warrior.

 

That had been a whirlwind of emotion - specifically fear, then elation and relief, then fear again. Elreen thought these things over carefully: there was little substantial proof that he'd defected. But he could at least prove something. "Here," he said as he reached for a badge clipped onto the fabric lining his armor. It had the symbol of a flag with the Sefal banner. "This is my rank medallion. I was the Ensign of my company. My job in the company was to bear the flag, sound the alarm, and fight when we need to."

He laughed a bit and looked himself over now that he was less unconscious. "Don't take prisoners often, do you?" he asked. He removed two knives from sheaths on his belt and a morning star mace, placing them on the table. "Or maybe there was just too much helter skelter going on down there."

"But I digress," he said, trying to remain focused and get to the point. "In the last battle, my company, which was smaller than most, got surrounded by the ene - uh, I mean, Nuhan soldiers." He stumbled a bit over his words. "We had no way of escaping. So, to save our men, I did what I had to do.

"I had a bugle I used for fanfares. And I blasted my powers through it with all my might," he expounded. "I decimated the front line of enemies, though the bugle shattered in my hands after I used it. The rest of the Nuhan soldiers retreated after that."

Elreen sighed. "I wish it had ended right there. My men... well, once they saw my powers, they knew what I was. They attacked me," he said. His eyes glazed over for a moment, as if remembering. Then, he took his chest plate and put it back on. "After that, I ran for it."

 

Lufu listened intently to Elreen's tale. "Quite the understandable reaction, I'd say. Yet, it's a pity that your fellow soldiers turned on you so quickly." he spoke, crossing his legs while he was seated. "People are so fickle nowadays."

At that moment, one of the Vanitas entered through the door, gave a quick curtsey to those inside and hurried over to its master. Using sign-language, the shadowy being explained the situation that happened outside.

"I see..." Lufu said. "Apparently, there was a spy outside. But certainly no ordinary one; he ran off at speeds unlike any regular human being once he was caught off guard."

He then turned to the Vanitas. "That will be all." he muttered and all of his shadowy constructs vanished. Lufu then addressed the group again. "I agree with Selan, a plan would be wise... Especially considering that there's someone outside these walls who has been watching us."

 

"It is the fate of us that have been marked by the Tarot. Feared, hated, used as tools, discarded once we are no longer useful." Enya scoffed at Elreen. Her shoulder no longer hurt thanks to Selan and Enya had guided the younger girl over to her earlier spot.

"Your days as a soldier are over. The Army might try to kill you on the spot if you show your face again. But I must say that I am impressed that you hid it so well. But first things first, we need to deal with that spy outside. From what Lufu is saying, he might be a tarot and if we can convert him to the cause, we will number ten. I don't think I have even heard of so many Tarots in one place, though, nor that large of a number working together." The Fool Tarot holder thought about the situation loudly, making sure everyone heard her.

 

Lufu nodded in agreement. "Surely, every one of us have had their fair share of ingratitude. Those... Insolent fools... Using us as mere weaponry, forgetting our sentience in the process. Afraid to stain their own hands with the blood of others." he said, clenching his fists in frustration and spite. "... And all because of this curse that we bear from the moment we're born..."

Lufu scowled and pulled off his right glove, the mark on the back of his hand seemed to ooze out darkness onto the rest of his arm. He looked at it with disgust and a hint of fear. "I can't believe that it has spread this much already..." Lufu mumbled and put his glove back on. He inhaled and exhaled a few times to regain his composure.

"I've only ever met a single Tarot before this strange coincidence occurred." he mused. "But, perhaps this isn't a mere chance meeting."

 

Aurora looked a little surprised, "Oh thank you!" She took the bag of fruits as it was handed to her. She stood up to place them on a little end table next to the couch. She listened to the conversation Lufu was having with Enya, she thought for a second before taking her boot off, "We were all marked for a reason" she pointed to a small rope mark around her ankle, "whether we like it or not... sure we spent over half of our life being mistreated and used but this is our chance to show them that we are better, that we are good!" She slipped her boot on and smiled. "we are tarots, we stand here together because we all have something to prove to the world, we all want this war to end and we will do it as two nations combined into one team." She smiled at them, "now you should rest Enya, you have worked very hard today. I can keep watch tonight."

 

"Thank you for the offer, Aurora. I will take you up on it. For those that do not know me, I am Eyna Xanda, bearer of the Fool Tarot, Wielder of ice, and a master in dagger play." Enya introduced herself to the new Tarots, making sure to raise her voice so the two upstairs could hear her as well.

She pulled off her right glove, showing the ornate light blue snowflake with a snowdrop in front of it. Her mark, the proof of being born with the same curse as the others in the room.

"Now, I don't have much energy left, but we first need to get that 'spy' inside and make sure he doesn't try anything."

 

"Well maybe I can be of assistance. I'm not sure if I have told you this, but I wield the Chariot Tarot. If what mr. death said was true, than all I have to do, is bury the spy's feet at least a few feet under and he wont be able to run away." Nathan announced. "And if you still dont trust me. Than Eyna can come with me and supervise my every action. So what do you day?"

 

Lufu carefully considered Nathan's words and then decided to speak up.
"I suppose that could work... Once we find him, that is. But that is precisely our issue, is it not? I am rather concerned about this person's speed; at this moment he could be god-knows-where. How will we be able to track someone who can simply dash off somewhere in the blink of an eye?" Lucifuge spoke, slightly cynical of this idea.

It seemed to be a rather naive plan to him, and Lufu narrowed his scarlet eyes. Did he honestly think it would be that simple to catch a Tarot?

 

Amaryllis thanked Enya silently, and since then, had been somewhat listening to all that was going on between the blond man and Enya, leaning heavily against the nearest comfortable seat where the female Tarots she recognised stood.

When the man with the war hammer spoke up in terms of handling the spy, she snapped her head towards his direction. Spy? Just how inattentive had she been?! She missed someone right under her nose!

"I'll go after them. It's probably my fault for not catching them when I was scouting earlier." She stood up and gave an acknowledging nod to everyone present. "Also, it might be getting dark, so hopefully some hospitality indoors would do well for them." She left the house, promptly forgetting her battle axe inside.

Once outside, she surveyed the back of the house. There were traces of someone having passed by that area before. Frowning, she followed the tracks for quite a long distance to a few nearby trees where the tracks seemed to end.

If there was a use for her powers, it was searching for people. She didn't think she would resort to it, but in order to snuff out the spy, she had to.

Closing her eyes, she focused her thoughts around the vicinity, as she opened them her eyes glowed white for a moment. 'I know you are around here. Come out.' However, due to her state and not being able to see the spy, those within a kilometre radius could only hear in their heads '--you--here---come--out---'

Her flickering eyes returned to normal, as she tried to steady herself, waiting if anyone responded and somewhat wishing she was now armed.

 

Letting out a small laugh as he heard the conversation beneath him, Nerus glanced at Elreen with an amused smile. "As you can hear, we've all been through your unfortunate circumstances." Releasing a sigh Nerus nodded towards the other man, "I believe you. It appears it may have been fate all of us met up this day." Indicating the doorway Nerus began to walk away, "Now come my friend, it's time that we all introduce ourselves." Nerus laughed as he began to walk down the staircase, releasing a small wince as his few injuries made themselves apparent,

'Heh, guess I didn't get out as unscathed as I wanted' As he hit the bottom of the staircase, he glanced at everyone in the room curiously. "I feel like we're missing someone." Shrugging Nerus return to his bow and sat beside it, leaning back into the wall with a sigh of relief. "Anyway, might as well introduce myself. Name's Nerus Noxious, I'm the Hermit Tarot and one damn fine Archer if I say so myself." He introduced himself humourlessly, before growing serious. "So what's this I hear about a spy?"