The Hunger Games [Caius]

[Noel Kreiss]

Noel had been on the backs of a lot of beasts before, and they'd all had their vicious ways of trying to buck a hunter off when he started harming them in any way. Noel always thought behemoths would be the absolute worst. This adamanchelid, though? Giving the dogs a run for their money. "Okay! I get it! You're not as boring as you look." Though it wasn't slinging around wildly like most other creatures, probably because it didn't have the ability to, it was doing enough that Noel had to wonder if he was going to have a not-too-fun fall down to the ground if he didn't keep a grip on the sword he had wedged into the orotoise's ear. Oh yeah, and it didn't help that the creature was getting lightly unbalanced and disoriented by the damage the sword was doing. So yeah, Noel's greatest weapon to start the process of bringing this mountainous beast down was also his poison. "Fast is good right now, Caius!", the hunter called to the guardian once he caught sight of the other man emerging to start crippling the creature.

He couldn't see how well things were going down below for Caius, which was probably a good thing since he needed to focus on holding on anyway, but he soon felt the creature starting to buckle and fall forward. Oh boy...this wasn't going to be easy. Noel lost his grip on the rolls of skin at the neck, being thrown forward with his one hand still on the sword. He caught hold of the hilt with the other hand and held on, managing to swing around it as the falling adamanchelid's momentum carried him forward and using it to propel himself forward onto the head just as the sword tore out of the ear and produced another bellow from the mighty orotoise. He didn't exactly stick the landing as well as he would have liked, but grabbing hold above the eyes, he managed to steady himself and stay firmly in place. Alright, so they had half of this giant down. That only left the back half...which was going to be tougher because of the thicker hide. But hey, not like they were going to shy away from this just because it was going to be tough.

Noel glanced down at Caius, who was now a lot closer than he'd been when the adamanchelid had been standing upright. A slight smile crossed the hunter's features at his words. Yeah, Yeul was going to love this as a birthday present, wasn't she? It was coming up in almost a couple of weeks...this could be the appetizer for her birthday dinner, or something. Noel gave the older Pulsian an understanding nod. "You got it." Turning towards the adamanchelid's back-end, Noel made sure he had his balance before he rushed up the beast's back, taking hold of the hard bone that indicated the creature's shell was going to be forming when it got older and holding himself there so he wouldn't roll back down to the head. Good thing, too...the adamanchelid bucked a little in protest, and Noel's feet went out from under him. Yelping and holding on with a single hand, he dangled there a few seconds, letting loose a breath in relief that he hadn't fallen completely off.

Once the beast settled down at least a small amount, Noel was able to plant his feet against the rest of the shell-bone and start pushing himself back up again, until he was on the adamanchelid's haunches. "You're not gonna like this, either," he warned the monster, quietly, before taking up both of his blades in a back-handed grip and thrusting one each into the soft tissue and cartilage where the joints for the left and right legs started to form. Okay, here went another ride...but with two firm handholds this time, Noel doubted it would be as tough to hang on this time around.

Words - 712
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - Not a thing. But yeah, if it wasn't clear, he's facing the thing's tail with the blades in the top of the legs on each side of him.[/size]

[Caius Ballad]

This was all part of training, or something like that. Okay maybe it was for a bit of amusement within the lives of these two Pulsians, but hey, when there was a lack of people, you needed to create your own entertainment, didn’t you? With a confident smirk rising upon his lips, he had his back pressed to the bottom of the rock formation that Noel was on top of, watching the slow moving orotoise as it started to come into their direction. Caius was good at judging movements, this may have been a crazy idea, but if two men could handle taking down one of these beasts, then they could take down the world if they really tried, that was a satisfying thought now…wasn’t it? Hearing only a light mumble of what Noel was saying from his stance away, Caius kept his eyes on the prize, watching the large pulse creature shift around at the rock formation to scratch it’s side. How convenient. This really was insane, but totally worth the challenge. Wouldn’t Yeul be excited to hear such a story?

“Three…

…two…

…one…”

And that’s when he heard Noel claiming that this was crazy. Of course it was. It was after all Caius’ idea to take on the biggest thing – aside from Titan – that walked the plains of Pulse. Looking up and seeing Noel get on the back of the creature, Caius readied himself. Stepping back to hide himself from the eyes of the unconcerned orotoise. He pulled his sword from his back, holding the hilt so that his sword was backwards and rested in his hand, right behind his back. Keeping an eye out, he felt the ground shake at the nearing footsteps of the creature, before it started wailing and stomping a little harder, he could tell the beast’s pace picked up only slightly, but it’s anger had skyrocketed. This was it! The challenge had begun, and thanks to Noel – which this was how things were supposed to go – it was Caius’ turn to step in and work on taking out the legs of this thing. That always seemed to be a difficult part, but he was used to difficulties…this was nothing more than a game, a very fun, dangerous and life threatening game.

Running quickly, Caius turned and came from his hiding spot, making himself known to the adamanchelid. The smirk still on his face, let the games begin. Shifting his sword around as he charged, he swung it up and down, casting recoils from his blade towards the legs of the beast. “You better hold on tight.” He commented in a whisper, knowing even if he shouted that with the stomping this thing was making, no one would be able to hear him. With another roaring wail from the creature, it stopped lifted one foot and ultimately tried to squish Caius. Rolling out of the way though, and keeping a good grip on his sword, he decided to send a few recoils to the back of the foot that had just tried to flatten him. Hitting the back of the knee area, the leg had buckled and sent the orotoise to the ground, at least the front part. It face planted into the ground from the force of its knee buckling. “Noel! Find another soft spot. If I can get the rest of these legs taken care of…you’ll have a fine story to tell Yeul later, tell it to her for her birthday.” He commented with almost a bit of frustration in his voice, but he quickly recovered.

Yeul…she was a seeress, and Caius was her guardian. Something Noel didn’t know or need to really know…she’d always die before she reached her twentieth birthday, due to changes within time…it was nearing that date, and soon, Caius wasn’t sure he was going to be able to take it anymore, watching Yeul die time and time again…this was the start of deciding who would be Yeul’s new guardian. Caius had seen a lot of progression in Noel since they met…he was starting to see that his younger companion would make a good guardian…but the catch was…how did one become a guardian? It wasn’t easy, killing the previous one was how it was done…maybe eternal rest was all Caius needed to stay sane.

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Words:[/color] 811
Muse:[/color] Great!
Tagged:[/color] Noel
Wearing:[/color] His usual!
Listening To:[/color] FFXIII-2 Stuffs
Notes:[/color] The bigger they are, the harder they fall!

[Noel Kreiss]

Noel had been on the backs of a lot of beasts before, and they'd all had their vicious ways of trying to buck a hunter off when he started harming them in any way. Noel always thought behemoths would be the absolute worst. This adamanchelid, though? Giving the dogs a run for their money. "Okay! I get it! You're not as boring as you look." Though it wasn't slinging around wildly like most other creatures, probably because it didn't have the ability to, it was doing enough that Noel had to wonder if he was going to have a not-too-fun fall down to the ground if he didn't keep a grip on the sword he had wedged into the orotoise's ear. Oh yeah, and it didn't help that the creature was getting lightly unbalanced and disoriented by the damage the sword was doing. So yeah, Noel's greatest weapon to start the process of bringing this mountainous beast down was also his poison. "Fast is good right now, Caius!", the hunter called to the guardian once he caught sight of the other man emerging to start crippling the creature.

He couldn't see how well things were going down below for Caius, which was probably a good thing since he needed to focus on holding on anyway, but he soon felt the creature starting to buckle and fall forward. Oh boy...this wasn't going to be easy. Noel lost his grip on the rolls of skin at the neck, being thrown forward with his one hand still on the sword. He caught hold of the hilt with the other hand and held on, managing to swing around it as the falling adamanchelid's momentum carried him forward and using it to propel himself forward onto the head just as the sword tore out of the ear and produced another bellow from the mighty orotoise. He didn't exactly stick the landing as well as he would have liked, but grabbing hold above the eyes, he managed to steady himself and stay firmly in place. Alright, so they had half of this giant down. That only left the back half...which was going to be tougher because of the thicker hide. But hey, not like they were going to shy away from this just because it was going to be tough.

Noel glanced down at Caius, who was now a lot closer than he'd been when the adamanchelid had been standing upright. A slight smile crossed the hunter's features at his words. Yeah, Yeul was going to love this as a birthday present, wasn't she? It was coming up in almost a couple of weeks...this could be the appetizer for her birthday dinner, or something. Noel gave the older Pulsian an understanding nod. "You got it." Turning towards the adamanchelid's back-end, Noel made sure he had his balance before he rushed up the beast's back, taking hold of the hard bone that indicated the creature's shell was going to be forming when it got older and holding himself there so he wouldn't roll back down to the head. Good thing, too...the adamanchelid bucked a little in protest, and Noel's feet went out from under him. Yelping and holding on with a single hand, he dangled there a few seconds, letting loose a breath in relief that he hadn't fallen completely off.

Once the beast settled down at least a small amount, Noel was able to plant his feet against the rest of the shell-bone and start pushing himself back up again, until he was on the adamanchelid's haunches. "You're not gonna like this, either," he warned the monster, quietly, before taking up both of his blades in a back-handed grip and thrusting one each into the soft tissue and cartilage where the joints for the left and right legs started to form. Okay, here went another ride...but with two firm handholds this time, Noel doubted it would be as tough to hang on this time around.

Words - 712
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - Not a thing. But yeah, if it wasn't clear, he's facing the thing's tail with the blades in the top of the legs on each side of him.[/size]

[Caius Ballad]

This was not too out of the ordinary, hunting like this…but maybe the creature he’d pegged to be the target was. If two men could take down this monster of a beast, then anything could surely be accomplished. It was nothing more than a minor game to Caius, and taking Noel for the trip was nice of him, he’d practically mentored the kid as it was, this could be considered a test of sorts, but really, there was no real meaning behind it. It got pretty boring in this world when people started dropping like flies, so of course this was one of the very few ways one could remain entertained and get something out of it. Hopefully this would make for a good story to tell Yeul, and the next Yeul and the next after that. The thought of many Yeuls had made Caius cringe a little, but his mind was still focused, still ready as he was quick and swift, moving beneath the creature before it collapsed completely.

With taking out the front legs and watching the creature fall forward, Caius had stepped back, holding his blade behind his back like usual, the smallest of smirks on his face as his eyes caught sight of the other hunter, holding on and losing grip every now and then, still, he had faith that Noel could hold his own against such a battle. Turning his attention to the rear, the back legs, Caius then started developing a new tactic, Noel needed to find another soft spot, he was already on the orotoise, so he had the best advantage at hitting a spot either near the spine or the hind legs where they connected to the main piece of the body. After giving his brief orders, Caius ran towards the back, looking at the feet of the orotoise that were firmly on the ground, but the legs overall were quite wobbly, shaky almost.

Moving his sword around in his hand, he twisted it above his head, forming a recoil already, the glowing purple magic around his sword amplified before he swung his blade forward, casting the recoil towards the left food, causing it to slip and not be quite as steady as it had once been. He did the same for the right leg before moving forward again, with the energy swirling around his sword, he could feel the power of Etro within him, but did well to conceal it, even when his eyes faded an intense red color, but for only a brief moment. Purple eyes then lifted as he pressed one foot on the tail of the creature as he watched Noel, finding that soft spot at the back and legs, he heard the beast roar in protest before both hind legs started to buckle, just as the first had. This was a success, wasn’t it? Caius was sure this beast would’ve protested a bit more, try to squish them with their quake attacks- wait a second…even if the beast was going down, it wasn’t dead, it was just immobilized. That was something he’d so idiotically overlooked.

Looking over his shoulder towards the head of the orotoise, Caius then did a quick half turn before sprinting towards the head, ready to take this thing out before it attacked them with a random magical attack, but it had been too late. With a mighty roar, Caius was thrown off guard by some shaking of the ground, a minor quake, but enough to throw someone off their feet and crush them with a nice boulder. Luckily none of that had happened, but dropping to a knee and stabbing his sword into the ground, he’d held his ground, a distinct frown appearing on his face as the quake faded, his body feeling shaky and almost unbalanced as he rose to his feet, simply just a little disoriented, even the best of fighters felt this way at times. “The final task. Killing the creature.” He spoke loudly towards his younger companion, trailing towards the head of the orotoise, ready to take it out and then figure out how to get it back to the village where Yeul had to be waiting. This would be a grand story.

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Words:[/color] 787
Muse:[/color] Goodish!
Tagged:[/color] Noel!
Wearing:[/color] His usual
Listening To:[/color] Battle-stuffs
Notes:[/color] I dunno what this is

[Noel Kreiss]

Yep, this one was easier. The orotoise just didn't have the strength or the balance anymore to really give Noel any trouble. The hunter grinned slightly to himself as he remained firmly standing in place, holding down his swords so the beast couldn't suddenly send them cascading to the ground with a sudden move. From his position, Noel couldn't exactly see what Caius was doing to follow up the whole "hitting a soft spot" idea, but he could occasionally feel the adamanchelid rock to the left or to the right from some sort of impact, so Caius was apparently down there doing something that was helping to bring the creature down. Noel had to start helping with that instead of just holding up where he was, because he'd done all the damage he could do to the upper legs. Releasing his smaller blade, Noel kicked it once to loosen it before using both hands to pull out the bigger of his weapons. He recovered the smaller one a moment later, swinging around to see where he should start with the rest of his weakening of the adamanchelid. Noel opted for a simple plan - go for the area between the forming shell and the soft, fleshy skin underneath. Wouldn't be a takedown move, but the adamanchelid would be starting to get exhausted.

Noel only got off a couple of swings, though, before he felt the back legs now starting to buckle. Setting his jaw, he pinned himself in place with a foot on the lip of the shell and took the slow ride down with the orotoise, falling over onto his hands when the orotoise finally finished its slow descent. They had almost done this! An orotoise taken down by two guys. This was going to start giving Noel some hope that they could eat even with there being so few healthy hunters still around. ...But he should have known not to start sounding the victory music too soon. The adamanchelid was down, but it wasn't dead yet, and it definitely still had some fight in it even if it looked like the laziest creature around. Noel felt the rumbles from a quake spell the beast decided to cast as a last-ditch effort, but thankfully the beast's own body blocked Noel from getting too shaken up, as long as a rock didn't come down and hit him. This was a bad place to be with a quake going on. Caius, too, was still on the ground, and Noel searched for him before spotting the man a couple dozen yards away, firmly planted in his place from the quake. Okay, so they were both good if the quake would just stop and-

There, the end of it. Now they had their chance to finish it. Noel could hear Caius expressing those thoughts aloud, leading him to peer forward towards the orotoise's head. "Right! I've got it from up here. Let's hope it isn't as hardheaded as people say." With that said, Noel hopped up onto the shell-bone and rushed forward, having tucked both his blades behind his back for the time being. He hopped back down onto the neck where he'd been a short time before, stumbling slightly before he regained his balance. Alright, time to do it. Noel always felt that slight pang of regret that he was killing a creature that had been minding its own business, but he always reminded himself - human survival was always going to be more important, and to be honest, these things were starting to outnumber humans these days. With that thought planted in his head, he brought forward his larger blade and gave it a single gathering spin in his hand before plunging it above the adamanchelid's eyes, gaining an extremely weak protest from the monster. One more blow, and it'd be gone. Then, they could have themselves a feast for a change.

Words - 683
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - Had missed this one. D8[/size]

[Caius Ballad]

This was going to be quite the challenge and quite the story worth telling. Caius had his fair share of battles over the many years he’d been alive, but this was one of the…most fun actually. He hadn’t really tried to take down an Orotise before, even though they roamed since he was a small boy within the village of Paddra, it’d always been a goal of his though, not much of a high goal as some of his others, but that didn’t matter, at least Noel was also getting a chance to enjoy a glory moment as well. Watching everything unfold, from the Orotise falling, to the quick maneuver it’d made to try and save itself with a Quake attack, Caius did well keeping his balance, but ultimately struck his sword into the ground and kneeled close towards the grass, waiting for the quake to be over, once that was over…then the two Pulsian natives could easily finish off the orotise and have a great story to tell about it.

Once the quake attack was over, Caius rose to his feet, moving his sword around so that it was comfortable for him again as he sized up the beast once more, his eyes moving upwards towards Noel as he watched him go for the head. Hard headed…cute. Moving and going towards the head as well, Caius didn’t take long to get there, a few long strides from where he was at and there he was, watching as Noel struck the orotise in the eye, a painful protest from the beast and that simply told both hunters here that one more blow and this battle would be won. Not much of a battle if you ask me, but still…it was impressive enough to take down one of these larger than life creatures, but for ONLY two men to do it by themselves? In very little time as well, it just was like a miracle. Smirking as he stared at the beast square on, he gripped his sword a little tighter, pulling it back and over his head and shoulder, he was going to deliver the killing blow…then there would be nothing else to worry about…aside from getting this thing back to the village, they could cross that bridge later.

Closing his eyes, to avoid any chaos powers being seen by his younger ‘comrade’, Caius then flung his sword up and to the side a bit, almost like he were striking something, but from a distance, sending a dark shaded recoil from his sword towards the next of the beast, not enough to cut through the hide, but it simply added enough pressure to add more pain and suffocate it. An even weaker wail of protest came from the orotise before its head completely rested on the ground, his body no longer taking in or releasing air…it was done. A satisfied sounding ‘hmph’ came from the guardian, twirling his sword back to his back latch where it belonged, he moved over and pressed a boot against the side of the orotise’s head, making sure it wasn’t playing dead or anything, and it sure wasn’t. Looking up towards the head and eyes, he gave a small nod towards Noel. “The deed is done, we can…make the story more exciting for Yeul if you wish.” He spoke with the slightest of amused smirks, anything to put them in a better light, right? This was going to be one hell of a trip back to the Paddra village…but worth it, right?

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Words:[/color] 680
Muse:[/color] good!
Tagged:[/color] Noel!
Wearing:[/color] His normal stuffs?
Listening To:[/color] Caius' Theme
Notes:[/color] Dunno what this is either! D8

[Noel Kreiss]

The creature was probably already a goner anyway from Noel's strike, since it warbled in debilitating confusion and barely had the strength to let out a roar anymore, but Caius' attack would ensure that they didn't have a creature suddenly twitching and crushing them while they tried to get it back to the village. Noel, still holding to his blade, watched Caius move under the head towards the neck, and as soon as he felt an impact crash against the underbelly of the orotoise, he freed his weapon, checked it for blood and returned it to his shoulder as the beast leveled out, its breathing having ceased. It was both a grand sensation to know that the two of them - alone, with no outside forces - had just felled a creature of this size, but also a great tragedy. Talk about the strongest of creatures, and the adamantoise, plus its younger offspring, would be at the top of the list without a doubt. And here one was, dead. Even the strongest of forces could fall if hit with just the right counter-force to weaken and then wipe it out. Noel had always tried thinking of nature in a sort of direct way, but thoughts like that always seemed to pop into the back of his mind. Clearly, he'd been listening to Yeul's different discourses a little too closely sometimes, not that doing so was a bad thing...

Seeing Caius below him, Noel flashed a grin and jumped down to join him. Once he landed, he turned to the massive head of the beast - as tall as he was - and patted it on the ear. "If I hadn't been a part of it, I wouldn't have believed it," he said, cheerily, though not quite as cheerily as he would have been around Yeul or most of the other villagers. Since he wanted to take Caius' place someday...he always felt like he had to act more like him. Caius never got too high or too low over anything, which is probably what Noel needed to learn to do if he wanted to spend his life protecting Yeul. Speaking of her... "I don't even think we need to make anything up! That was as exciting as it gets." He looked to the fallen beast again, still bustling with pride. "Just hauling this thing into the village is sure to make her really happy...if we can figure out how to get it there..."

Pulse, taking the creature down was the easy part. How were they supposed to haul something that weighed so many tons back by themselves? Maybe they'd had a strategy for the takedown, but a strategy to get it back to the others? Well, they hadn't really gotten that far. "We could always hook it to one of the carts," Noel thought aloud. "But a couple of hungry chocobos can't drag this thing anywhere..." The more and more he thought about it, the more he thought they'd have to go ahead and get gristly with the carcass that now sat beside them. After all, they couldn't use every bit of the adamanchelid...only the short tusks, some of the skull and backbone, and the meat, obviously... Yep, they were going to have to do what normally, they did back in a clean place in the village. Noel shrugged. "I guess we'll have to butcher it here, won't we? Take the parts back we can use..." It wouldn't impress Yeul as much...but maybe hauling in two orotoise tusks would be enough? Hopefully so... She couldn't be disappointed, because she hadn't known about this hunting trip...but still, he didn't want to disappoint her.

Words - 657
Muse - Excellente!
Notes - I could think of nothing else. 8'D[/size]

[Caius Ballad]

Well, that was that. The beast was down, Caius was satisfied and Noel had proved himself to be even more successful than the guardian had expected. Standing there on the ground, his eyes on the Orotise, he had secured his sword back to where it usually sat, on his back, ready for some sort of battle again in the future. Turning his eyes towards Noel as he got to the ground, he gave almost a nod of approval towards the brown haired youth. A slight smirk crossed Caius’ face as he folded his arms across his chest, taking a few observant steps away from Noel as he kept his eyes on the creature now that it was dead and gone. “I suppose it’s a one of a kind story.” He said in his deep voice with a small shrug of his shoulders. It wouldn’t need to be exaggerated for Yeul to get a kick out of it, in fact, she’d probably end up with a smile on her face no matter what. That was all that mattered, yes?

Looking over the beast, but not really thinking about it, his mind was on other things, like Noel taking his place one day as Yeul’s guardian. He had yet to get around to telling Noel about Yeul’s…life, or many lives to be more exact, he didn’t want to drop that bomb just yet, but judging by what he saw today, he knew that Noel would be more than capable of protecting the Seeress. The day that Noel became a guardian would be the day that Caius ceased to exist. It was a morbid thought, but it was also a freedom he’d longed for for quite some time now. Just thinking about being free from this fate…it was…mind boggling. Only half listening at the moment, he nodded occasionally to make it seem like he was paying attention, or even thinking about getting the creature back to the Paddra village, but still, his mind was elsewhere. “We’ll get it there somehow. No chocobos.” He commented, throwing himself out of his daze of thoughts, taking a few steps towards Noel before placing one hand on the younger Pulsian’s shoulder, giving him another nod of approval, though no smile came with it. “You’re going to make a fine protector one day.”

That was all he needed to say on the matter before stepping past Noel. “We can take a small rest before we get ready to take this thing back.” He announced, if by the time they were all rested up from their brief but energy draining battle and Caius hadn’t dropped his thoughts about the future, then they would probably be here forever. He needed a small moment to clear his head and get his head back in the game. Wandering a few feet away, he’d pulled his sword from his back and struck it into the ground before lowering himself in the grass for a seat, resting his back against the rock formation that they’d planned this entire attack around. “Yeul’s birthday is coming up…she will be pleased. Is there…anything else you wanted to do for her? Any ideas. After all…a birthday comes but once a year.” If only Caius knew about the madman he was going to turn into…the insanity that would’ve poisoned his mind…if only he knew.

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Words:[/color] 671
Muse:[/color] Good!
Tagged:[/color] Noel
Wearing:[/color] His usual.
Listening To:[/color] Girls just wanna have fun -- it’s on the radio D8
Notes:[/color] ^ I don’t even…

[Noel Kreiss]

Noel was already thinking about how they could most easily do the butchering, but it wasn't something he wanted to think about just yet, even if it did mean thrilling Yeul. Taking the beast down had been enough trouble, so thinking about the complicated process of moving it would ruin the taste of their victory...figuratively. Noel just let another faint smile cross his features and started to take in a breath, before Caius' approach of him surprised him a little. Looking to him expectantly, the hunter wasn't all that surprised to hear Caius bringing up the idea of Noel's being Yeul's protector sometime. Noel was looking forward to that day...but he knew he wasn't ready just yet. Beating Caius in one-on-one combat? Noel thought he could do it, but it would be a struggle. He wanted to be able to fight him when he had the skills to actually beat Caius because he was the better fighter, not just because he could squeak by since he had one more weapon than Caius. He wanted to know he could protect Yeul as well as Caius had been doing these few years of her life. The thought of it all made a strange feeling well up in Noel's chest, and, standing straight, he nodded to Caius. "One day...I'll make sure it's not too far off," he told the older man, with a dutiful tone.

And it seemed like Caius had kind of the same idea Noel had about taking a few minutes to just...not think about how hard it was going to be to get back with their prey. Turning around to face where it looked like Caius was settling down, Noel dropped down in place indian-style and rested his elbows on his legs. He took a glance up at the sky. Why couldn't everything around look as nice as the blue canopy above them most days? Looking up at that sky, it didn't seem like everything was turning to sand and dust and decay...well, everything except for what few of them were left in the village. It was easier to ignore all of what was going on around them when he was laughing with Yeul, or meeting with Caius, or hunting with one of the other villagers. It was when you slowed down that all the bad things became apparent...which was probably why Noel didn't like to slow down all that much.

Caius' words brought his eyes back down from the expanse above them. Noel had already been thinking about other things they could do for Yeul's birthday, but thus far he'd actually been kind of short on ideas. He voiced this concern to Caius. "I don't know. I was thinking about it...but there's only so much we can really...do with only a few of us left," he said, the regret becoming more evident as he went along. His fingers thrummed on the ground beside him, before an idea lit up his face and he looked back up at Caius eagerly. "Could we take her somewhere she's never seen? I bet she gets tired of the village sometimes...one of the other hunters was telling me about some of the ruins to the south, and how there might be some bigger ones on beyond...maybe Yeul would find those interesting."

Words - 611
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - I always overlook this thread since it's separate from most other XIII-2....[/size]

[Caius Ballad]

Caius knew what the future would bring, he already knew what horrors and what new companions would come to the future for both Caius himself and Noel. The future was set, but each little alteration made a change, it effected Yeul, and Caius could only hope that what was to come would come slowly…not quick. He didn’t want Noel to see the curse Yeul had been burdened with. He could only imagine the toll it would take on the hunter’s mind to watch Yeul collapse to her death. Shaking his head slightly at the thought, Caius had given his…compliment to Noel so to speak. He really did see a lot of determination in Noel to be a good guardian. He only wished that something like that could actually happen. If he could make Noel Yeul’s guardian…then he would’ve done it in a heartbeat…it was a shame something like that couldn’t be simple.

Taking a small break wasn’t a bad thing, not that Caius really needed one, it would give him enough time to think and sort out his mind a little bit. Sitting on the ground and trying to change up the subject a bit, Caius wondered what else they could do for Yeul’s birthday, Etro-willing she made it that far, but whatever they planned would surely put a smile on her face. It didn’t take a lot to make her smile these days…it was always such a pleasant sight. Feeling the faintest twitch of a smile form on his lips, he quickly drew himself to Noel’s words, thinking upon them and trying his best to plan along with him. “We could take her down there, I’m sure she’d like that. It’s the little things in like that make her smile.” He spoke honestly, and wishing things were looking better for both of his companions. He wished Noel to be a great hunter, an excellent guardian one day…and he wished Yeul to live a long and happy life. Some things you just had to live without, and it was the most important things that you never could get.

Yeul was like a daughter to Caius after all this time of guarding her. It was always horrible watching her collapse to her knees because of the whole being a seeress thing, he needed to stop it somehow. He really needed to draw his mind out of these thoughts and just focus on the things that were happening right now, like getting this orotise back to Paddra and get it taken care of. Turning to Noel, Caius then rose to his feet and stretched a little bit, having really taken a brief moment of a break. “We can talk more about her birthday on the way back to Paddra. We should…get this taken care of before we lose a lot of daylight time sitting around.” He said moving towards the orotise, plucking his sword from the ground and taking a gander at the kill they’d done. Still impressive that it was…but it might’ve been for nothing if they weren’t careful. “Ready to see Yeul’s face when we bring this back?” he glanced over his shoulder towards Noel, a small hint of a smile on his face, hoping…wishing she would stay alive…just to see the smile on her face, that was all he wanted, for her to be happy.

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Words:[/color] 667
Muse:[/color] Great!
Tagged:[/color] Noel
Wearing:[/color] His usual
Listening To:[/color] Nothing
Notes:[/color] I...dunno what else to do with this thread 8'D

[Noel Kreiss]

Caius was right - Yeul was the type of person who was able to smile even from the most mundane things. Truth be told, with how things were, they only really had the most mundane things to offer her, but she always treated them like they'd done something pretty great every time they brought home a hunt or managed to scavenge for something new she could use to make a certain task easier or...just sitting around and talking with her for a few hours. And this would be slightly bigger than any of those things...Noel couldn't remember the last time anyone had been as far south as the ruins. Caius didn't have any opposition to taking here there, either. Noel knew that the two of them could take care of her well enough that nothing strange happened, plus the bonus of whoever else decided to trail along with them. Not that there were many left that were healthy enough to do it...but they could scrounge up a couple more hunters, definitely. "We'll make it a good time for her!," Noel spoke up, his optimism about the arrangement starting to grow. "There's got to be something down there that none of us have seen before... I wonder what it was before Cocoon fell." He rocked a little in place, smiling to himself. "She might think it's fun to try and figure that out, too." Ah, yeah, it was good to have finally thought of something...when he didn't think anything he could come up with would be worth anything.

By that time, Caius was getting up, and Noel quickly pushed himself to his feet to follow. Caius never really stayed anywhere too long, it seemed...always passing through and getting going with his next task. That must have been the life of a guardian, but Noel knew he wanted to take Caius' place more than anything. It didn't matter that he was busy all the time, if he was busy for Yeul's sake. Who else did he really have? Nodding to Caius when he mentioned they could talk about it some more on the way back home, Noel turned and regarded the fallen beast again with his arms crossed. The rest of their job on this trip wasn't going to be a pretty one, but it was one Noel knew he'd performed many times, and it was a necessity always. He pulled his shorter blade off of his back, juggling it lightly in his hand a couple of times before Caius spoke again. "More than ready," he told him, before stepping forward, over one of the orotoise's legs, to get to work. They were going to be eating pretty well here for a few weeks...

Words - 502
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - I think we generally accomplished what we wanted to, so We could continue later with the birthday trip if Taiya wants in?[/size]