darkSpyro

It was then that Angora grew sickened of Latnok's bossy ways.
"I wasn't being intimidating! I was making a point! And if you think so low of me, then simply leave me alone! Is that too much to ask? Finally I was leaving you alone to have some peace to both of us, and then as always, you just had to butt in!" Angora said, trying extremely hard to keep herself calm. She wanted so badly to hurt him, even if it was just kicking him on the shin. It was already clear that Latnok hated trolls, but her ridiculous size just added fuel to the fire it seemed. Angora was more intelligent and reasonable than other trolls, but she still had the pride and stubbornness of one, which was a hard position to defend being such minuscule of stature.

Before giving Latnok some time to reply however, she dared to do something otherwise she never would; ask for help.
"You, magical dragon you! Isn't there a way for me to block my mind or something to avoid having any more telepathy junk?" she said to Orion, really wanting something that would prevent others from talking to her mind. She wanted her mind all to herself, as it should be.

"As much as I would like to not have to deal with a child, I have my orders," Latnok said. "My own personal feelings on the matter are irrelevant. I have the discipline to accept that the needs of the many come before my needs." Though he disliked Angora, he didn't feel strongly enough to say that he hated her - what he felt was closer to annoyance. Though he was initially glad to not have to work with her, he wasn't one to complain about an order. And that was just the way he was used to it - he had one purpose in life. Outside of his bounty hunting, his own desires had no real place.

"Your orders, not mine!" Angora said bluntly, doubting his orders involved bossing her around.
"And sure, a child. Do know I'm more than adult now, but of course, you wouldn't know through size." she then added, having taken offense to that. It wasn't enough that Latnok treated her as a beast for just being a troll, now he was going to treat her like an ignorant child? That simply ignited more of her dislike for the hunter human.

"Listen. If you look like a child, throw tantrums like a child, have the reasoning capabilities of a child, sulk when you don't get your way like a child, and fall asleep when it is inappropriate like a child, I will have no choice but to consider you a child until you prove otherwise." Latnok was not even being deliberately antagonistic - so far, he viewed Angora as nothing but a stubborn brat, much like any old child. "It doesn't matter if you're 2 or 200 - you have not shown me yet that you are an adult."

Angora scoffed, pacing once more to retaliate some of her anger.
"Hah, for your information, that's normal behavior on trolls that are being bossed around! Are you saying then, that human children are like little trolls? Must be a sour revelation to you, isn't it?" Angora rebuffed coldly, believing to have the perfect answer to Latnok's ignorant behavior.

"You don't want me to sleep cause we're in this infernal place? Easy, just show us the exit so we can all finally have a little peace." she then added, being harder and harder to maintain her composure with Latnok arguing and belittling her all the time. It has been Icestorm the one who has suggested they should get a rest for the night, and Angora was more than willing to listen to a dragon than a racist human.

"Yes, in fact, human children are pretty similar to trolls in mental capability," Latnok said, "but as they grow up, their brains develop and become the highly adaptable, deadly tools that are the hallmark of humanity - something that far fewer trolls manage to achieve. Human brains, unlike troll brains, are more malleable, making it easier for us to learn things and to adapt to changing situations. Even human children, on average, show more capability to learn anything than you have so far." Latnok's tone was completely flat - he didn't consider the subject anything more than a regular conversation. "Though this conversation would seem to be futile. You have already shown a lack of adaptability or ability to retain information. As such, I will take care to watch over you as I would any child, so you don't come to harm through your own ignorance. As soon as Shade is ready to move, I will lead us out of here."

Quote: Spyroconvexity

Shade looked around at the other hunters and quickly went over to Raclaw. He didn't trust anyone yet but he was starting to trust Raclaw. He tried to hid behind him.

As Angora and Latnok went back and forth, Raclaw looked back at the scared animal that was Shade. 'Don't worry-- I won't let them hurt you. Just stick with me, don't straive too far from the group, and I promise... you'll make it through this.,' he then telepathically spoke directly into Shade's mind. He gave a nod as if to reassure the dark dragonoid. 'And about the collar-- you're not the only one. Let me tell you a secret... this came from the Guardians. Mine helps me now, but I've been in your place and you'll get used to it. Just give it time.,' he then added realising just restraining the collar must have felt for someone who had never worn one before. He motioned towards his collar and felt a little bad for Shade's collaring.

By this time, Angora couldn't take it anymore. All Latnok ever did was trash talking her species and she wouldn't have any more of it.
"That's it! I've had enough of you and you badmouthing my species. You think that's information? All I hear is a human with many predjudges and a superiority complex who think his kind is better than everybody else, who despite meeting a bunch of animals that mean no harm to him still maintains his desire to see us as inferior and hunting game!" Angora replied, saying all of it while trying to remove her armor.

"I'm sorry Neo, or whatever the hell your name is, but you got the wrong creature for this mission! Whatever it is that you think I have, doesn't exist! Choose another one for this infernal mission, just make sure it's not him!" Angora declared, ready to renounce her armor and be on her way. No matter how cool and pretty it made her feel, if it was the cause for her to be in Latnok's presence, she didn't want it. Even though she got along rather well with the rest of the group, Latnok's presence was simply unbearable. Not even Neo's previous assurance, or Raclaw's attempt to make her feel better were enough for her to have any second opinions.

"That's quite a few assumptions you're making there," Latnok said, in a more calming voice, just like he would speaking to a child. "I have not, at any point, said I wanted to kill any of you - that is just your paranoia speaking. Killing any of you would be very counterproductive, not to mention completely unnecessary, as none of you have posed any danger to humans. Even from a purely utilitarian standpoint, killing those who can help us is a terrible idea.
"Dragons are quite revered among us, in fact, if you haven't identified by now, on account of being the source of much of our power, and frequent allies of ours. You seem to be the only one who is unable to tolerate me. This probably wouldn't even be an issue if you didn't go out of your way to express your hate for me every opportunity you got." Latnok was tiring of the troll's antics - but it was something that would have to be tolerated. She seemed to lack the intelligence to see anything but her own delusions. It was something to be worked with, just like any other caveat.

Angora didn't move, but she did flinched. She tried in vain to remove her armor, but Orion didn't seemed like he was going to help her, and Neo didn't cooperated either. It was as if the armor was stuck to her with some magic glue. After giving up, she spoke to Latnok again, in a fatigued voice due to being too tired with the struggle and Orion being too angry already.
"Dragons are revered... certainly, so much that you use their body parts." she said sarcastically before continuing.
And ever since I got here, all you've ever managed to say to me how trolls are too stupid and inferior to humans. You didn't even bothered to at least be discrete about your opinion and try to get in my more tolerable side. You know, I use to think dragons were the most violent, greedy bunch on the planet, but meeting you definitely made me realize how wrong I was. I tried to leave you in peace, and you wouldn't let me. I've never killed a human in my life, and all of my kills have been in self defense... and yet here you are, still badmouthing trolls as the stupidest, most bloodthirsty beasts you've ever met. And what's worse, you make fun of me and my justified behavior by treating me as an annoying child. What's next? Are you going to step on me like a cockroach? There is nothing more humiliating than that." Angora commented with more sarcasm, being too tired to argue and too fatigued to raise her voice. She didn't care if Orion had enough of their arguing, she wanted to be with the last word so that her point would be the most valuable.

Angora pretended not to feel intimidated, even though she knew too well the damage a dragon could do. And that was just an ordinary one, nobody could imagine what a deity could do. After a few seconds of silence, she gathered the courage to respond to Orion.
"Tell that to him!" she said, admitting to herself that it was she the one who argued with Latnok first, but after a while, she genuinely wanted to stop when he kept it up with all his racist badmouthing. She really hated to be in that position. What she wouldn't give to have the earth swallow her up or anything that would make her disappear from that place so that she wouldn't have to look at Latnok ever again.

"My apologies, Galaxy Dragon. I should not have lowered myself to her level," Latnok said flatly, with a quick bow directed to Orion. His own pride was not important to the mission at hand. "We have much more important things to deal with than any personal grudges. Let us move on."

Angora mouthed his words in mockery, making fun of the way Latnok showed respect to the Galaxy Dragon. At least all this argument caused the proud human to be scolded. She continued along with the rest of the group, needing the fresh air so badly. She was sick of that place, and outside, it would leave her more room to be far away from Latnok.

"Very well, then. Follow me," Latnok said, with a beckoning hand gesture. "It's a bit of a trip, but we'll still have enough natural light to navigate by if we move at an appropriate pace." As he began to move ahead, he raised his right arm, and the gems in his gloves gave off the same soft glow they did previously - a sign of his reactivation of the cooling spell. Making sure that Angora was paying attention, and that she couldn't ignore him or pretend to not hear him, he telepathed to her "Don't fall behind or wander off. You WILL get lost without any sort of guidance. If that does happen, scream and I will try to locate you."

Angora had been fine for the walk, not being impressed by the gems decorating his glove. She dismissed it as another one of Latnok's attempts for grandeur. She was calm and tolerable for that while... until Latnok used telepathy again.
"Again with the stupid mind reader!? I swear I'm going to hurt him if he doesn't leave my mind alone!" Angora said to Orion, her greenish skin turning red again. She was currently willing to cooperate and even tolerate Latnok's presence for the time being... but only if he stopped using telepathy with her.

Latnok turned around and squatted to get to eye level with Angora. "Now, now then," he said, in a tone reminiscent to a parent consoling a crying child, beginning to reach out a hand to pay her on the head but stopping. "Here's what I will do. I will avoid using telepathy with you unless necessary, but I need you to promise to pay attention, okay? I only want what is best for us. No need to worry, my psychic abilities do not extend to mind reading. It's just telepathy." At this point, Angora being ignorant on magic and what it was capable of was just business as usual. She seemed impossible to placate and completely unwilling to compromise in any regard, so he would just have to calm her like any child, due to how important this particular child was for the mission. "Is that okay?"

Angora was caught off guard by the sudden display of kindness, but her shock only lasted a couple of seconds. As usual, looking at the negative side of things, she believed Latnok treating her this way was just another attempt to make fun of her.
"Don't treat me like one child scum!" she said furiously, slapping his hand away from her.
"Mind reading, telepathy, I don't care what it's called! You think that shiny gauntlet of yours wasn't enough for me to pay attention? I'll listen, and even follow you and... tolerate you as much as I can, just don't use any of that irritating magic!" Angora said with gritted teeth, growing tired of so much argument. She had learned to live with her small stature, but Latnok belittling her because of it only made her hate it. She was willing to make peace with him only if he didn't use magic on her, but above all, if he stopped with the biased comments about her species.

Latnok, surprised by the troll's sudden aggression, had to try very hard to stifle his laughter - what came out was somewhat muffled, but would still be distinguishable as laughter to anyone close to him. Simply nodding to Orion, he continued, moving along the path. Hopefully Angora would be easier to manage than she seemed...

Angora almost fell face first with the slap, not expecting it and nearly lacking the strength to resist it.
"But everything was going fine until he used that telepathy of his." Angora complained, almost sounding like a little girl accusing her brother of bullying her. Despite knowing that complaining would still get her scolded, Angora was somebody who couldn't have any peace of mind until she had things her way, or at least the last word.

Angora simply shrank her shoulders, finally being quiet but ready for another arguing if Latnok dared to use telepathy with her or badmouth her species again. She felt so lousy in that situation. She had to play the recluse hero because of an armor that was stuck with her, hang out and listen to a human she despised with all her might and tolerate the scolds of a deity that wasn't so great if he once needed rescuing from someone like her. She was beginning to think she should've accepted Raclaw's offer and simply hang out with him. At least while taking a ride on him, she could've avoided walking and use his wings as windows to prevent her from seeing Latnok or anyone else for that matter.

Raclaw looked back and gave a reassuring head shake. "Don't worry-- I won't. Just remember to stay close to the group and you'll be fine.," he then said gently reminding Shade of the conditions. Any control or influence he had over his own collar did not apply to that of Shade's, so it would ultimately be up to the dark dragonoid to comply and to Latnok to be lenient. He would watch closely to see how the Guardian handled the newfound control he had over Shade. Part of this journey would be seeing how the human Guardians proved or disproved their good intentions-- especially when it came to the collaring of dragon-kind and what they revealed on his own situation.

"Until we deem him safe and completely trustworthy," Latnok answered. "When we are sure that he will not harm us - either voluntarily or involuntarily - then I will gladly remove it. Anything less is a dereliction of my duties." As the group continued to move, there was a fork in the caves, the stench of formaldehyde wafting from somewhere. Latnok guided the group towards one of the forks.

Angora simply glared at Latnok with half closed eyes, believing he was enjoying very much having Shade restrained like that. After all, it was within human nature to need to control something and have things her way. While she remained quiet and didn't look for any arguments, one could still see she was annoyed. She occasionally gave glances at Raclaw as if to wanting to show him she was still upset with him, when in reality, she was simply keeping an eye on Shade. She still hasn't forgotten who he was, or how he briefly enslaved her and almost killed her several times. Angkra wasn't going to take any chances. She was so paranoid, she even quickened her pace, afraid that someone behind her could accidentally step on her.

OOC: Where are the others?

OOC: I mean the actual RPers.

Ooc: Been busy Sorry! And I dont know what to say now, but I am still here and Dex will be with the group. He will say something and do something when I see the chance.

OOC: That leaves darknessdawn.

So it appears that darknessdawn is gone, and we have no indication of any return. What should we do?

OOC: We wait for SC to reply and progress the story. To the users that don't post, we'll simply assume that their characters are still among the group somewhere.

Angora closed her eyes, looked annoyed. She didn't know if Shade was mocking him or if he indeed was such a scaredy wimp. One or the other, it was quite frustrating to her. As they all walked, she still waited for the chance to get out that complicated place, and still hating the fact that Latnok was the one leading them out. Why couldn't Orion simply teleport them to the place they needed to be? For such a legendary deity, his powers were very limited.

After the fork, with the smell of formaldehyde dissipating, the next chamber had walls which were lined with many names, all glowing against the dark wall. Immediately beneath each name was a rank insignia of the Guardians. Latnok seemed to slow down slightly as he moved through here - his attention focused on two names in particular. He immediately caught himself, though, and picked up the pace once more.

Latnok stopped in his tracks. Without looking back, he said, "Every name here is of a Guardian who has fallen, and the rank they possessed when they did. Those names, in particular... Executioner Harux, he was my mentor. And Hunter Arulin..." Latnok could not bring himself to relive what had happened. "...the past is the past. Nothing to do but learn from it."

"No disrespect taken," Latnok answered. "Every one of the men here knew what they were getting into." That's what he always told himself... Arulin knew what he was getting into. I made the best choice, given the information I had... we all know that. I have nothing to regret.

"They were allies," Latnok said. "Good allies, who did what they needed to. Harux taught me most of what I know about magic. Arulin was one of my subordinates, assigned to me soon after my promotion to my current rank." Latnok stopped just short of providing more details as to the exact circumstances of their deaths, and began moving once again, trying not to betray his emotions through his speech or body language. "Death is nothing new. We kill others all the time. Death... how do I put this. We fear it... but we're not afraid of it. That is, we're not unwilling to face it. Every creature has its time, even those who think they don't, like phoenixes." With a brief pause, the tone in Latnok's voice changed to become slightly more forceful. "Despite every effort Godfather Sere has made, we Guardians dying is something that will never change. We, more than anyone else, know that everything has a weakness. Hell, we wrote the book on killing 'unkillable' creatures - figuratively and literally. I myself have killed thousands, by overpowering them or outwitting them, but one day, some other creature, who is stronger than me, or smarter than me, will overpower or outwit me, and will kill me despite my best efforts - and he would have earned that kill. Hell, perhaps I will die on this very mission. It would be a fitting end."

As the group walked and stopped, Raclaw took a moment to glance at the names as well as listen to Latnok's explanation. 'I'm sorry for your lost.,' he telepathically sent to Latnok sensing that the guardian held a greater connection to the mentioned names. Even if it wasn't a direct connection of family or blood-- it was evident that the Guardians shared a strong bond and that any such loss would've been greatly felt by the ones still remaining. And although he didn't (yet?) know his true family, he felt such a bond with the humans who had raised him and he knew that would hate to lose them. And that wouldn't ever change, even if other humans were directly responsible for his collaring and everything that followed after. A bond was a bond-- regardless of rather or not blood was involved.

Angora was quiet and tame ever since they entered that room. She had a neutral expression in her face. Even though it didn't looked like it, she was hearing everything Latnok was saying. Excecutioner? Hunter? What titles! Such irony was that murderers were the ones being honored in this seemingly sacred tomb. It appeared as if humans are valued for the lives they take. Even though she find it amusing seeing dead humans, she also felt disgraced for the amount of respect they received. No wonder Latnok was so irritating if he had mentors like that.

"There is no helping it in the end," Latnok telepathed in response to Raclaw. "We all know what can happen to us. We spend our lives knowing that death is around the corner. In the end, better a few of us than many others. But they are why... I am determined to not lose any of my comrades ever again." Meanwhile, to the rest of the group, he said, "With very few exceptions, most Guardians are cremated. Most of the ones who aren't have died in a way which prevented them from being cremated - either completely destroyed, or their body being rendered inaccessible to us in some manner. There are a few cases of mortally wounded Guardians offering their bodies as food to allied dragons to give them the strength to survive or finish the mission."

As the group continued to move, a breeze, growing in strength, could be felt coming from the direction they were moving in.