Choose your side - Arc 2 M1 prep

Sunlight danced off the clear waters of the dock, dappling it with a multitude of colours as the soft sound of waves crashing against the wooden beams supporting the planks could be heard. All in all, a beautiful place to collect ones thoughts; to revel in the peacefulness of the situation of the hand. Calm before the storm they said..and who knows how long it would last? In this kind of weather, it could last forever.  

All of this was unnoticed by a particular feline as they stood by the water edge, looking slightly pale and disheveled. Dark circles formed underneath their eyes and a look of pure exhaustion and what looked like defeat could be seemed permanently stamped on their features before two dark brown ears twitched at a sudden noise and their head turned slightly to then travel downwards  

A large black cat with wispy looking fur and green glowing eyes, complete with a witches hat perched on top of its head and a tangle of vines about its neck with a evilly smiling pumpkin attached in the middle could be seen sitting neat the bipedal cats paws. Letting out what seemed a yawn of boredom, the witch’s familiar Gabriel wound his way through his masters legs before sitting nearby, head cocked in interest.

“..Why are you here Gabriel?” Elliot rumbled, turning his weary eyes back to the scene, trying to ignore the pain in his entire right arm. The aforementioned appendage was encased in a thick cast, almost so tight that he wasn’t able to scratch it when it itched. At least he could flex his paw for the most part though the pain hadn’t gone away and with his magic completely sapped it would heal at a normal pace and not quickly, as he would have liked.  

“To keep you out of trouble, of course.” came the somewhat saucy reply as the smaller cat began to groom one of his paws, to then clean behind an ear in a practiced motion. “Last time you went without me, you not only drained your magic entirely, but managed to break your arm.”

“That.” The tan tabby growled in annoyance “Was not on purpose."

 Gabriel only purred in response to then step out of the way as some people carrying cargo came through with large boxes on their shoulders. Stepping a bit too closer to Elliot, almost causing him to topple into the water they mumbled apologizes as he snarled at them to watch where they were going. His attitude was futile as more workers came along, causing him to move out of the way somewhat sullenly.  

Suddenly, pain lanced through his right arm as it was jostled it slightly by another and a grimace soon followed as the Cait Sith gripped just above where the cast was, adjusting the slings position so that it settled into something more comfortable and hopefully..wouldn’t itch as much. Ignoring the stammered apologies from whoever had hit him Elliot simply slunk off in a different direction, away from the high traffic area he had wandered on to. Gabriel followed after him, silently weaving his way through the area while seeming to keep an eye on the sullen tempered tan tabby.  

Within the next little while the pair were standing in a different part of the town where it seemed busier than usual. Everyone was carrying crates and seemed a little more hurried than it seemed on the docks, though when looking through the throngs of people and creatures helping out, one could see who was directing the show. Another tabby coloured Cait Sith, this one shorter than Elliot, with a circlet on their head and a clipboard clasped firmly in their paws was directing people here and there carrying an assortment of items. His voice could be heard quite clearly over the din everyone was making, so much so that Elliot was getting a bit of a headache listening to everything at once.  

“Hold on you; that doesn’t go there! Take those crates to Secca over there. They’re filled with mechanical parts, not for the infirmary!”  

Sighing to himself, Mau scribbled down something on the pieces of paper attached to the clipboard before his ears perked and turning his head, looked over at Elliot. Those yellow eyes seemed to analyze the other Cait Sith as if seeing him for the first time before he quickly glanced down at his clip board once again as his gaze returned to the tabby standing across from him.

“Ah,” he murmured, causing the Earth mage’s hackles to rise slightly as he began to sense the demeaning tone coming from the Leader of Alluvia. Even if he was the leader, that didn’t mean he could kick others around as he pleased. “Elliot, what are you doing here?.”  

“Lord Mau.” Elliot simply responded, struggling not to hit the other cat in front of him. Adjusting the sling once again as his arm was beginning to itch, he nearly tripped over Gabriel who had appeared to sit at his feet, causing the familiar to step to one side and begin grooming once again. His irritation was beginning to grow once more, fangs gritted, head pounding and the utter frustration from the fact that..

No, he couldn’t think about that now; there were more important things to worry about, such as defeating that huge worm. Malakai had said his drake was all saddled up and ready to go, but it still felt like a punch to his gut when the word “height” came into play.

“Come to clear your head, have you? Good, good..” the Cait Sith muttered half to himself but nothing was too soft for the heightened senses of Elliot before flipping a few more pages of his clipboard and looking up slightly. “I hope, even while you’re resting that you won’t mind helping out a bit.”

“You seem to have a lot of workers already.” The healer commented, his green eyes roving about the area. Not that he didn’t not want to help out but what was he able to do in this kind of condition, with his magic completely drained, his right arm broken as well as being completely exhausted beyond belief. Mau didn’t seem impressed with what Elliot had just said, his golden eyes narrowing slightly before the one side of his mouth quirked upwards a tiny bit.  

“Well..having a giant worm smash into a town and almost completely destroy it, leaving many homeless and injured seems to have jogged peoples helpfulness.”

Elliot could only blink somewhat rapidly in a bit of astonishment at what the Leader of Alluvia had just said before saying nothing while Gabriel made a noise of what seemed annoyance before clambering onto his owners uninjured shoulder, which caused the tan tabby to wince and steady himself, before staring at the other cat with glowing green eyes.  

“Yes yes, in other news, we’re quite busy and everyone is quite willing and able to help out; come along now if you please.” the smaller Cait Sith spoke before turning around and beckoning the gardener to follow, which he did after letting out what seemed half a sigh and half a snarl. He had heard rumours that this other feline was up to no good for the most part and had wanted to find out for himself but..who was he to judge?  

Mau lead the tan tabby to one of the busier spots of the harbor where a blue skin troll could be seen holding another clipboard and directing creatures to different places, all carrying crates and other various items up and around the docks.  

“This is Secca.” Mau began, scratching something down on the clipboard while talking, leaving Elliot to gaze somewhat curiously at the creature he was indicating to. It was a troll, something he had never seen before though it wasn’t like he had been paying attention in the first place. She was a light blue colour, almost like the sky with a pink mop of hair flipped over on the right side of her head. While blue gloves could be seen on her hands, she wore what almost looked like a black jump suit that was cut off at the legs and ballooned about her legs, while a while jacket was tied about her waist, complete with a blue coloured belt with a pouch about the jacket. A blue striped vest could be seen underneath with buttons and black stripes could be seen underneath the jacket, completing the outfit. “She’s in charge of the mana-tech department from back in Eremet city I've enlisted her aid to help with vehicle and weapon repairs for all the Alluvian mana-techs we'll be using in the field.”  

The troll simply waved in response and the pair moved on, Elliot trailing slightly behind with Gabriel balancing carefully on his shoulder. Within a few moments they were at a different part of the city, to which two official looking tents, one decorated in Hephaestus colours and banners while another sported Alluvian colours and banners. Mau walked into the Hephaestus one with the field medic following somewhat closely behind. Inside lay a regal looking fox creature, complete with a feathery headdress and a golden triangle shaped necklace about its neck.  

“This is Itzli; he will be assisting us with healing and support the injured soldiers who come in.” Mau offered helpfully as the spirit looked up in a somewhat bored manner over to Elliot before laying his head down once again, giving a snort. “Well, that’s it for the tour. All we have to do left is take care of inventory and stock.”

Handing Elliot a clipboard, which he struggled with for a few minutes before being helped by Gabriel, who reached over to steady the clip board with one paw, Mau vanished into his office before returning with four more clipboards, busily thumbing through one of them.  

"I want you to take this list and go talk to Secca and confirm everything on the list, On this second page is a list of everything I will need to keep me in tip top healing shape so that I can use my summons to help out the support team." The leader of Alluvia mentions casually, tapping his claws on one clip board before pointing to the one Elliot was holding in confirmation of what he was saying beforehand. " I know it seems like we are making you do all the dirty work, checking on supplies here and then carrying all those supplies around between the different stations and camps. But you must understand that your role is necessary, and it's the most important role of all. You are our supply chain if you don't keep everything in check. We'll have a hard time keeping everyone alive on the battlefield. Don't worry you wouldn't just be handing out supplies, there will be stations that require your expertise and we'll have you stationed there, but for now I just need you to make sure that everything on those lists are fulfilled and completed until we sortie."

Giving the healer a very small smile he headed off in the direction to where some other people waited, seemingly recruits to whom he would give the same tour to. Shuffling through the clip board, Elliot turned his head to Gabriel who was looking at one of the recruits in seeming interest before his green eyes met the others and the familiar spoke, causing the Cait Sith’s ears to perk and swivel.

“So, what shall we do now, Elliot?”

This caused the field medic to pause as if weighing options. He was getting tired, though Haru said this type of feeling would last for a while, especially since his magic could barely fill a thimble at the moment and since he had exhausted so much of it and hadn’t been able to go home since the..accident it would be futile for him to try and use and magic for a while for that would tire him out even more.

“First.” he said slowly, as if trying to convince himself more than his pet that it was a good idea “We’ll go to Secca and find out what we need, help out a bit and then..how about some rest?”

“Sounds like a plan” the familiar yawned before gently leaping off of the Cait Sith’s shoulder down onto the ground and beginning to walk in the direction of where the blue skin troll was with Elliot somewhat hurrying after, trying to make himself not topple over. He hadn’t felt this exhausted in a while, not since he had nearly killed himself in his younger years and almost became a zombie trying to heal his sister. “Let’s go see what the others are up to, shall we?”

“Say,” Gabriel voiced with what seemed a smirk on his face as he turned back to the slightly panting healer who was trying to keep pace with him, almost causing him to pause in mid step.

“What is it?” The Caith Sith replied, dodging some people carrying medical supplies before returning his focus back on the clipboard, making sure that none of the pages would come loose.  

“Are you glad?”

“Glad about what, Gabriel?” Elliot huffed while checking to make sure that his arm was going to bounce out of his sling at any given moment. Given the traffic in this area he was sure it was going to happen once again, or at least a few times and that had hurt.  

“You know..” the familiar purred, bouncing ahead a few paces before turning back with an almost wicked grin on his features. He was too far out of Elliots reach to be grabbed, but he knew that his partner wouldn’t do anything to hurt him and would simply fume. Even if they hadn’t been together long, the Cait Sith was like an open book with pages eager to be read..Gabriel knew that this tough nut would soon crack after a while. “During that troubled time, your prince charming swooped down from the skies and saved you from certain death~”  

The blush that heated the tan tabby’s face went from a strawberry to a cherry red in an instant at Gabriel’s words, a low hiss emitting from his throat as his hackles began to rise, only to stop as his right shoulder reminded him that he was injured and shouldn’t over work himself. His familiar just gave a somewhat knowing chuckle before bounding off in the direction of the medical tent

With a still burning face Elliot stalked off where the pet had just vanished, his tail lashing behind him in embarrassed and angry patterns. Not noticing who he passed or what he almost ran into, he entered the tent and halted upon seeing who was inside. Letting out a small snarl as he noticed who Gabriel was talking to, and in quite a casual manner as well, he did his best not to look at who was there but it..was slightly hard considering the person did take up a bit of room in the tent.  

Then came that gaze and those eyes..goddess damn those blue eyes.  

Well, this afternoon was off to a great start.