The ongoing process of spiffing up my first post.
How do I have so many OCs?
I only did half of them.
Disgusting.
I'll do more later.
Thank goodness I wrote some backstory, because that's what I needed. OTL
[spoiler]"Wake up, Rhailo- quickly!"
Had she been dreaming? Of a ship? Why? No... it was someone on said ship she dreamed of; that was what mattered most in the vision. Electric blue eyes, hair falling in a spill of silver that bore striking similarity to her own, and an aura of information. The buzz of technology. A group embarking onto the surface of Ixxin'lo, strangers amid the grassy terrain of a glossed knoll. The earth glimmered even in the low light of the waning sun, crystalline and crushed by years of degradation. A shining sea of stone beneath what little flora managed to take root. Rhailo could taste the air potent with the chill of the season, piney undertones giving life to headier fragrances of neighboring flowers blossoming.
If only she could reach out and touch him...
"GET UP, RHAILOSIOBAHN!" Digits circled her wrist, dragging her from the comfort of feathery sheets, and Rhailo's eyes snapped opened at the sight of her brother.
"W-what? Why? What's happening?" Wide-eyed, the Auroun sunk away as her arm was released, though her sights remained firmly locked on Braxiskroi as he feverishly paced back and forth through her room, gathering articles of clothing from drawers and compartments built into the wall. "Brax? Speak to me! What's happening?"
"Some," Emphasized with a look of disgust donning his fair skinned features, "aircraft has landed outside the city walls. The council is in an uproar over what needs to be done, but they asked specifically that I go to mediate on their behalf." Pausing, her twin adjusted his weight from one leg to the other impatiently. "Elder Phife also mentioned taking you along with me, as if I hadn't enough to worry about."
Unceremoniously, Brax threw the garments towards where his sister now sat at the edge of her mattress, and then stormed out of the room, leaving Rhailo to change in silence. An aircraft? Never one to trust coincidence, the woman's thoughts trailed back to her dream, and the man she had seen traveling in the field. Uneasily, she stripped off her nightgown to replace the negligee with the skintight fabric of an ebony bodysuit, covered from the neck down with the skintight nylon-esque coating. It left only her hands and head uncovered, and as the finishing touches were made, she pulled the cascade of snowy locks from under the rubber collar.
Vacating her chamber, the Auroun slipped into a pair of traction boots and headed to where Brax was waiting, though his first comment was as tactless as it was unnecessary. "You look disheveled with your hair down."
"Well, should I braid it?" The woman asked with a roll of her eyes, motioning back to the hallway she had just come from. "I thought we were in a hurry-"
"No, no. Don't braid it. You're right, we are in a hurry, so your appearance will have to do."
Rhailo, cringing, wrenched open the door to their home and took a step out into the twilight blanketing the suburban area. Residential housing stretched like great stacked blocks, all crafted from the same crystal the planet seemed infected by; each glimmering in the last true light before nightfall. "I'm sorry my appearance distresses you so."
"It's not- no. Look, it's not you I'm upset with, even if I'm snapping in a fashion that might lead you to believe that's the case. Really, my concerns are with this foreign vessel, and why they would be here." Something akin to fear crossed Brax's portrait before he began walking, the door clicking shut in his wake.
"I don't hear sirens, so this can't be a major threat..." Rhailo's brow furrowed, skeptical of her own words, but she pressed on as a means to reassure the other Auroun. "And they wouldn't send you to fight, Brax. You're not a soldier, and neither am I." A trill of laughter escaped the woman, her warm vocals teasing at the back of her throat as the pair moved towards the council's helipad. "Could you imagine me fighting? No, the Elder knows I would be next to useless, and I doubt his intention was to feed up to foreigners as a peace offering."
Brax eased in response to the words, helpless to the smile that peeked across his lips. "Yes, well, perhaps you're right. I just don't see this task as being diplomatic in nature, even if we're not on the front lines."
"Why?" Rounding the corner at the end of a quiet street, the docking bay loomed ahead like a beehive turned lengthwise, windows decorating the exterior walls in a style reminiscent of honeycomb cells ripe with amber, their surface casting oblong reflections of the trafficless expanse of the road they currently traveled.
"Look." As they stopped at the clearance barricade, Rhailo did as was instructed and peered at the opening shuttle bay to where Brax's concerns were centered. It wasn't an emissary vessel rolling from the bay, but a pair of 376-T Endo/Exo-Atmospheric stealth birds, both cloaked in a ripple of psionic energy like heat rising from asphalt. "Tell me that doesn't bother you in the slightest."
An ebb of confusion wormed through her thoughts, her silence proof enough it did. Finally, Rhailo asked cautiously, "We're traveling in one of those?"
"Yes," Meanwhile, the guard nearest to them, who had been checking their identification chits, handed them back and ushered the siblings through the security check. Brax appeared ruffled when he was touched on the shoulder, albeit lightly, but carried on with his thoughts after they continued closing the gap between security on the straightaway, and the hangar itself. "Which is why I'm nervous, because they wouldn't take Stalkers to meet with misguided creatures who pressed their luck landing on our planet. Those, Rhailo, are used to eradicate targets without leaving a trace."
By the time they appeared in front of their assigned vehicle, the pilot has fitted them with masks and gloves intended to dampen their own psionic capabilities. The flight patterns of the Stalker relied heavily on the individual guiding the craft, and were the passengers left unfiltered, their readings could send the craft into spasms of unexpected turbulence. This was explained to Rhailo with a smile, and though she smiled back, the expression failed to reach her eyes. This whole situation felt impossible, and the more she learned of their expected involvement, the less she wished to be anywhere near the hangar.
The back of the plane had been retrofitted with rows of seating for passengers, though the style of the seats stood out against the otherwise dark interior as if they were picked in a hurry. They probably had been, for a mission much like this one, and the company never bothered to find better upholstery. So, belted into a camouflage brown chair that reached high enough to cradle the back of her neck, Rhailo took a deep breath and prepared for their ascension. It hadn't occurred to her that the motion of liftoff would be negligible, so as the craft rose slowly off the tarmac and into the sky above as a ripple in the night air, she almost missed it. Afraid to do more than glance hesitantly at the window pane, Brax's voice quivered to life at her right.
"I hate this- this forced secret mission nonsense, masked as an attempt at communicating with foreigners. We are not needed here, now, in this death machine!" His teeth grit as a scowl bloomed over his otherwise neat visage. "This is entirely uncalled for, and I will be speaking with the council about their misuse of power-"
"Shh. Just try and breathe, please. If nothing else, you get to experience the subterfuge of diplomacy, which I'm sure doesn't happen often, given how rarely anyone bothers with this side of the galaxy." Tipping her chin to recline her head, Rhailo took in the streak of passing cityscape as the ship was coming into range of the less developed outskirts. Here, what passed for trees grew sparsely in patches, surrounded by pools of grass and crystal outcrops, stretching as far as she was able to see through the small porthole. "I think we're close."
"Gods, I hope so." Brax retorted miserably, his arms wrapped around the center of his torso. "For my stomach's sake."
The first Stalker had already landed, the crew outside of the hidden vehicle in a small clump of black bodies. With Brax and Rhailo in their matching helmets, they knew the lower aircraft's members all wore the same dampening technology they did, but several of the individuals were removing theirs now that they were grounded. Descending, the plane settled in relative silence within a hollowed space of prairie grass, exposed land glimmering under the docking lights when the pilot spoke over the com. "All clear. Time to head out."
Rhailo unbuckled the harness that had kept her locked in, and stood at her full height, posture straight and figure sleek in the uniform obsidian bodysuit with accompanying helmet and gloves. The visor was tinted, but could be see through if one were to look closely, which allowed her to watch the digust on Brax's face as he rose to stand with her. "I swear, I will never attend to stealth matters again. I didn't sign up for this."
A laugh echoes through Rhailo's helmet, but her immediate thoughts kept returning back to her dream. Primarily, to the man she had seen, and the extent to which she questioned which parts had been true, and which had been created by an overactive imagination. Sometimes, her visions were clear and precise, but this one had been a blur of background and noise with only one defined focal point. The stranger. Who was he, and why couldn't she shake the feeling he meant more than just the hazy vision she had forseen.
Brax's hand nudged her lower back to set her into motion as the bay door opened, and with her leading the way, the twins exited the Stalker and headed to the collective of soldiers. Some remained masked and gloved, though their pilot joined them, and commented to the pair, "You guys might want to ditch your gear for now. We don't know what we're dealing with, and while those helmets work to soak some damage, they aren't gonna compare to your abilities."
Not one to argue, Rhailo wrenched free her head from the helmet and handed it to the pilot, Brax doing to same with a few subtle curses whispered under his breath. When that matter had been attended to and the helmets and gloves were returned to the ship, an older Auroun with dark circles under his eyes began giving a small brief about what was known.
"Most of you know the gist of what I'm about to say, but the peacekeepers don't, so I'll cover it again." Straightening, he towered over Rhailo and Brax, one of the tallest Auroun Rhailo had ever laid eyes on. "We got word of a ship clearing the atmosphere about an hour ago, and while we tried reaching them to communicate a warning, no response was received. The ship is human as far as we can tell, but not a warship. Our scouts counted no more than six humanoid figures traveling this way on foot, maybe less, but we expect there are few others remaining on the ship itself. It's not big enough to have many more than 10-12 passengers."
"Our primary objective is to either take back what technology we come across or to completely clear the area of the alien threat."
"Doesn't that seem needless?" Rhailo quipped softly, afraid to make eye contact with the commanding officer. "I mean, what if-"
"Needless? Are you shitting me?" When the Commander laughed, the sound made the back of Rhailo's head hurt, like shaking a tin can full of coins. "We have a band of trespassers who didn't answer questions regarding their motives, prancing through the fields towards the city. Needless is having this conversation, Peacekeeper."
After that, Rhailo didn't try to speak. The information clearly came as Brax had predicted when they first reached the hangar and saw their method of transit. Blinking a few times to remain composed, the woman felt her hand being squeezed reassuringly, though Brax didn't speak either. It wasn't their place to interfere with the operation of the company they traveled with, only to ensure their methods were held to the standard set by the council of elders. Even this seemingly homicidal mission fell under council jurisdiction, meaning Brax was needed; Rhailo was baggage.
After all, her specialty was focused on less violent methods, like conflict resolution or public representation.
The band of soldiers started as the sky finally darkened to a bruised hue, stars in the mesh of deep blue twinkling absently. Somewhere out there, these humans had traveled from a planet with a star as bright and bold as those she noted above the group. It curdled her stomach, thinking how far they had come only to be disposed of by a group of troops who had no more interest in their reasoning than they did in Rhailo's part on the mission. Soldiers, bored with their mundane life of peace, thirsted for immediate satisfaction. Even if the council had asked for questioning to be done, Rhailo doubted it would be thorough.
Through a knot of dense trees, the group came to a halt with the Commander hovering over Rhailo, his lips parting to issue a short whisper. "Make sure you're watching, Peacekeeper, so you can run back to the council and let them know we followed protocol."
With that, the human party emerged in the distance, unknowing of the threat the Auroun presented from where they lingered in the wings. The Commander nodded at his front rank, and three soldiers widened their gaze on the humans in the distance, narrowing their vision as their pale oculars glowed. The light brightened their hiding spot, but with the quickness the act was done, it didn't matter. Three bodies hit the ground, alerting their allies of the problem. Blood would leak from the fallen three's orifices, their eyes popped in their sockets in a runny mess of clear fluid, and whatever sound of pain they might have issued in their last second of life hadn't made it out of their mouths due to their larynx's having been crushed.
Rhailo felt sick, feeling the emotional shock of the stranger's when they were hit by the psionics. It overwhelmed her senses so that even though she couldn't make out the details of the scene, she understood the full extent of the soldier's actions. Her breaths came hurried and when she expected she was close to hyperventilating, the woman screamed out as loudly as she could to the remaining humans, "RUN!"
"Dammit!" The Commander spat, swatting Rhailo aside as he issued an order to his soldiers. "Quick, finish the fucking job before they get away!"
Brax caught Rhailo, though his disappointment was palpable as he shared softly, "You're going to make this very hard on me, aren't you?"
But she didn't answer. All she could do was pray the stranger from her dream got far away for the time being. That silver hair in the distance had been unmistakable. For even the chance to meet him, she would shirk protocol. [/spoiler]
How do I have so many OCs?
I only did half of them.
Disgusting.
I'll do more later.
Thank goodness I wrote some backstory, because that's what I needed. OTL
[spoiler]"Wake up, Rhailo- quickly!"
Had she been dreaming? Of a ship? Why? No... it was someone on said ship she dreamed of; that was what mattered most in the vision. Electric blue eyes, hair falling in a spill of silver that bore striking similarity to her own, and an aura of information. The buzz of technology. A group embarking onto the surface of Ixxin'lo, strangers amid the grassy terrain of a glossed knoll. The earth glimmered even in the low light of the waning sun, crystalline and crushed by years of degradation. A shining sea of stone beneath what little flora managed to take root. Rhailo could taste the air potent with the chill of the season, piney undertones giving life to headier fragrances of neighboring flowers blossoming.
If only she could reach out and touch him...
"GET UP, RHAILOSIOBAHN!" Digits circled her wrist, dragging her from the comfort of feathery sheets, and Rhailo's eyes snapped opened at the sight of her brother.
"W-what? Why? What's happening?" Wide-eyed, the Auroun sunk away as her arm was released, though her sights remained firmly locked on Braxiskroi as he feverishly paced back and forth through her room, gathering articles of clothing from drawers and compartments built into the wall. "Brax? Speak to me! What's happening?"
"Some," Emphasized with a look of disgust donning his fair skinned features, "aircraft has landed outside the city walls. The council is in an uproar over what needs to be done, but they asked specifically that I go to mediate on their behalf." Pausing, her twin adjusted his weight from one leg to the other impatiently. "Elder Phife also mentioned taking you along with me, as if I hadn't enough to worry about."
Unceremoniously, Brax threw the garments towards where his sister now sat at the edge of her mattress, and then stormed out of the room, leaving Rhailo to change in silence. An aircraft? Never one to trust coincidence, the woman's thoughts trailed back to her dream, and the man she had seen traveling in the field. Uneasily, she stripped off her nightgown to replace the negligee with the skintight fabric of an ebony bodysuit, covered from the neck down with the skintight nylon-esque coating. It left only her hands and head uncovered, and as the finishing touches were made, she pulled the cascade of snowy locks from under the rubber collar.
Vacating her chamber, the Auroun slipped into a pair of traction boots and headed to where Brax was waiting, though his first comment was as tactless as it was unnecessary. "You look disheveled with your hair down."
"Well, should I braid it?" The woman asked with a roll of her eyes, motioning back to the hallway she had just come from. "I thought we were in a hurry-"
"No, no. Don't braid it. You're right, we are in a hurry, so your appearance will have to do."
Rhailo, cringing, wrenched open the door to their home and took a step out into the twilight blanketing the suburban area. Residential housing stretched like great stacked blocks, all crafted from the same crystal the planet seemed infected by; each glimmering in the last true light before nightfall. "I'm sorry my appearance distresses you so."
"It's not- no. Look, it's not you I'm upset with, even if I'm snapping in a fashion that might lead you to believe that's the case. Really, my concerns are with this foreign vessel, and why they would be here." Something akin to fear crossed Brax's portrait before he began walking, the door clicking shut in his wake.
"I don't hear sirens, so this can't be a major threat..." Rhailo's brow furrowed, skeptical of her own words, but she pressed on as a means to reassure the other Auroun. "And they wouldn't send you to fight, Brax. You're not a soldier, and neither am I." A trill of laughter escaped the woman, her warm vocals teasing at the back of her throat as the pair moved towards the council's helipad. "Could you imagine me fighting? No, the Elder knows I would be next to useless, and I doubt his intention was to feed up to foreigners as a peace offering."
Brax eased in response to the words, helpless to the smile that peeked across his lips. "Yes, well, perhaps you're right. I just don't see this task as being diplomatic in nature, even if we're not on the front lines."
"Why?" Rounding the corner at the end of a quiet street, the docking bay loomed ahead like a beehive turned lengthwise, windows decorating the exterior walls in a style reminiscent of honeycomb cells ripe with amber, their surface casting oblong reflections of the trafficless expanse of the road they currently traveled.
"Look." As they stopped at the clearance barricade, Rhailo did as was instructed and peered at the opening shuttle bay to where Brax's concerns were centered. It wasn't an emissary vessel rolling from the bay, but a pair of 376-T Endo/Exo-Atmospheric stealth birds, both cloaked in a ripple of psionic energy like heat rising from asphalt. "Tell me that doesn't bother you in the slightest."
An ebb of confusion wormed through her thoughts, her silence proof enough it did. Finally, Rhailo asked cautiously, "We're traveling in one of those?"
"Yes," Meanwhile, the guard nearest to them, who had been checking their identification chits, handed them back and ushered the siblings through the security check. Brax appeared ruffled when he was touched on the shoulder, albeit lightly, but carried on with his thoughts after they continued closing the gap between security on the straightaway, and the hangar itself. "Which is why I'm nervous, because they wouldn't take Stalkers to meet with misguided creatures who pressed their luck landing on our planet. Those, Rhailo, are used to eradicate targets without leaving a trace."
By the time they appeared in front of their assigned vehicle, the pilot has fitted them with masks and gloves intended to dampen their own psionic capabilities. The flight patterns of the Stalker relied heavily on the individual guiding the craft, and were the passengers left unfiltered, their readings could send the craft into spasms of unexpected turbulence. This was explained to Rhailo with a smile, and though she smiled back, the expression failed to reach her eyes. This whole situation felt impossible, and the more she learned of their expected involvement, the less she wished to be anywhere near the hangar.
The back of the plane had been retrofitted with rows of seating for passengers, though the style of the seats stood out against the otherwise dark interior as if they were picked in a hurry. They probably had been, for a mission much like this one, and the company never bothered to find better upholstery. So, belted into a camouflage brown chair that reached high enough to cradle the back of her neck, Rhailo took a deep breath and prepared for their ascension. It hadn't occurred to her that the motion of liftoff would be negligible, so as the craft rose slowly off the tarmac and into the sky above as a ripple in the night air, she almost missed it. Afraid to do more than glance hesitantly at the window pane, Brax's voice quivered to life at her right.
"I hate this- this forced secret mission nonsense, masked as an attempt at communicating with foreigners. We are not needed here, now, in this death machine!" His teeth grit as a scowl bloomed over his otherwise neat visage. "This is entirely uncalled for, and I will be speaking with the council about their misuse of power-"
"Shh. Just try and breathe, please. If nothing else, you get to experience the subterfuge of diplomacy, which I'm sure doesn't happen often, given how rarely anyone bothers with this side of the galaxy." Tipping her chin to recline her head, Rhailo took in the streak of passing cityscape as the ship was coming into range of the less developed outskirts. Here, what passed for trees grew sparsely in patches, surrounded by pools of grass and crystal outcrops, stretching as far as she was able to see through the small porthole. "I think we're close."
"Gods, I hope so." Brax retorted miserably, his arms wrapped around the center of his torso. "For my stomach's sake."
The first Stalker had already landed, the crew outside of the hidden vehicle in a small clump of black bodies. With Brax and Rhailo in their matching helmets, they knew the lower aircraft's members all wore the same dampening technology they did, but several of the individuals were removing theirs now that they were grounded. Descending, the plane settled in relative silence within a hollowed space of prairie grass, exposed land glimmering under the docking lights when the pilot spoke over the com. "All clear. Time to head out."
Rhailo unbuckled the harness that had kept her locked in, and stood at her full height, posture straight and figure sleek in the uniform obsidian bodysuit with accompanying helmet and gloves. The visor was tinted, but could be see through if one were to look closely, which allowed her to watch the digust on Brax's face as he rose to stand with her. "I swear, I will never attend to stealth matters again. I didn't sign up for this."
A laugh echoes through Rhailo's helmet, but her immediate thoughts kept returning back to her dream. Primarily, to the man she had seen, and the extent to which she questioned which parts had been true, and which had been created by an overactive imagination. Sometimes, her visions were clear and precise, but this one had been a blur of background and noise with only one defined focal point. The stranger. Who was he, and why couldn't she shake the feeling he meant more than just the hazy vision she had forseen.
Brax's hand nudged her lower back to set her into motion as the bay door opened, and with her leading the way, the twins exited the Stalker and headed to the collective of soldiers. Some remained masked and gloved, though their pilot joined them, and commented to the pair, "You guys might want to ditch your gear for now. We don't know what we're dealing with, and while those helmets work to soak some damage, they aren't gonna compare to your abilities."
Not one to argue, Rhailo wrenched free her head from the helmet and handed it to the pilot, Brax doing to same with a few subtle curses whispered under his breath. When that matter had been attended to and the helmets and gloves were returned to the ship, an older Auroun with dark circles under his eyes began giving a small brief about what was known.
"Most of you know the gist of what I'm about to say, but the peacekeepers don't, so I'll cover it again." Straightening, he towered over Rhailo and Brax, one of the tallest Auroun Rhailo had ever laid eyes on. "We got word of a ship clearing the atmosphere about an hour ago, and while we tried reaching them to communicate a warning, no response was received. The ship is human as far as we can tell, but not a warship. Our scouts counted no more than six humanoid figures traveling this way on foot, maybe less, but we expect there are few others remaining on the ship itself. It's not big enough to have many more than 10-12 passengers."
"Our primary objective is to either take back what technology we come across or to completely clear the area of the alien threat."
"Doesn't that seem needless?" Rhailo quipped softly, afraid to make eye contact with the commanding officer. "I mean, what if-"
"Needless? Are you shitting me?" When the Commander laughed, the sound made the back of Rhailo's head hurt, like shaking a tin can full of coins. "We have a band of trespassers who didn't answer questions regarding their motives, prancing through the fields towards the city. Needless is having this conversation, Peacekeeper."
After that, Rhailo didn't try to speak. The information clearly came as Brax had predicted when they first reached the hangar and saw their method of transit. Blinking a few times to remain composed, the woman felt her hand being squeezed reassuringly, though Brax didn't speak either. It wasn't their place to interfere with the operation of the company they traveled with, only to ensure their methods were held to the standard set by the council of elders. Even this seemingly homicidal mission fell under council jurisdiction, meaning Brax was needed; Rhailo was baggage.
After all, her specialty was focused on less violent methods, like conflict resolution or public representation.
The band of soldiers started as the sky finally darkened to a bruised hue, stars in the mesh of deep blue twinkling absently. Somewhere out there, these humans had traveled from a planet with a star as bright and bold as those she noted above the group. It curdled her stomach, thinking how far they had come only to be disposed of by a group of troops who had no more interest in their reasoning than they did in Rhailo's part on the mission. Soldiers, bored with their mundane life of peace, thirsted for immediate satisfaction. Even if the council had asked for questioning to be done, Rhailo doubted it would be thorough.
Through a knot of dense trees, the group came to a halt with the Commander hovering over Rhailo, his lips parting to issue a short whisper. "Make sure you're watching, Peacekeeper, so you can run back to the council and let them know we followed protocol."
With that, the human party emerged in the distance, unknowing of the threat the Auroun presented from where they lingered in the wings. The Commander nodded at his front rank, and three soldiers widened their gaze on the humans in the distance, narrowing their vision as their pale oculars glowed. The light brightened their hiding spot, but with the quickness the act was done, it didn't matter. Three bodies hit the ground, alerting their allies of the problem. Blood would leak from the fallen three's orifices, their eyes popped in their sockets in a runny mess of clear fluid, and whatever sound of pain they might have issued in their last second of life hadn't made it out of their mouths due to their larynx's having been crushed.
Rhailo felt sick, feeling the emotional shock of the stranger's when they were hit by the psionics. It overwhelmed her senses so that even though she couldn't make out the details of the scene, she understood the full extent of the soldier's actions. Her breaths came hurried and when she expected she was close to hyperventilating, the woman screamed out as loudly as she could to the remaining humans, "RUN!"
"Dammit!" The Commander spat, swatting Rhailo aside as he issued an order to his soldiers. "Quick, finish the fucking job before they get away!"
Brax caught Rhailo, though his disappointment was palpable as he shared softly, "You're going to make this very hard on me, aren't you?"
But she didn't answer. All she could do was pray the stranger from her dream got far away for the time being. That silver hair in the distance had been unmistakable. For even the chance to meet him, she would shirk protocol. [/spoiler]
BDRP Admin. Writer. Villain. Personal Blog.
I tried running from the memory and the mourning.
I tried running from the memory and the mourning.