|
Post by Treijim on Oct 11, 2007 13:40:54 GMT 9.5
Anu frowned at this strange new boy but said nothing. He seemed concerned for Leif and had either forgotten about or was ignoring the others, who were attending to their leader. He stood up too and looked both ways down the alley.
"Where are you... we going? We should get you to a medic first." Though Anu had a limp and some serious bruises himself, he didn't seem to care.
|
|
|
Post by Scraverx on Oct 11, 2007 15:39:26 GMT 9.5
Leif bent over to show Anu the back of his head. Anu might notice he has a little difficulty bending over, probably bruised ribs but he doesn't wince or anything. "Am I bleeding?" He asks but doesn't give Anu enough time to answer. There was a sizeable lump suggesting he may have been hit on the back of the head with one of those clubs but no blood. "If I'm not I don't need a medic."
Leif then straightened up again. "Were are we going. Back to my school. The south school has been cheating for months now. Bunch of the East school fighters have been unseated or can't fight at the moment and just last week my little brother almost got crippled by this kid." He gives the younger south school fighter a rough shake and a smack to the back of his head. "My uncle said we needed proof to take before the FFC."
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Oct 15, 2007 15:49:54 GMT 9.5
Anu seemed genuinely confused. Perhaps it was the blow he just took to the head, but he didn't catch much of what Leif said, and the words that did reach him made no sense. However, when he heard the mentioning of the FFC he grew quite serious.
"Proof," Anu said, the words just reaching his mind. "There is proof at your school? Ah, it doesn't matter. I'll follow you. Lead the way."
|
|
|
Post by Scraverx on Nov 11, 2007 22:57:09 GMT 9.5
Leif shook his head a bit and took a firm hold of one arm of the unidentified boy from the southern school, roughly pulling him back towards a main street and then heading in the direction of his school.
"Nah, you sure you're head's ok Anu? This kid is the proof. Or he will be when we get him to talk."
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Nov 15, 2007 15:48:06 GMT 9.5
Anu was about to insist he was fine when both boys were grabbed from behind by strong hands. A large cart with a dark canvas cover was passing by, blocking them both from view for only a moment, but when the cart had passed they were no longer standing in the street. In darkness they were held down and something was put to their noses and mouths, soon rendering them unconscious.
When Anu came to, all he could see was black and all he could feel and smell was dust and stone. He was lying against something quite solid, propped up roughly like a child's doll. He tried to open his eyes but only saw painful blurriness, and the rest of his body hardly responded. His gauntlets had been taken, too.
"Leif?" he managed to croak.
|
|
|
Post by Scraverx on Nov 15, 2007 16:38:59 GMT 9.5
There was harsh coughing from somewhere nearby broken by bouts of strained wheezing. If the source of the sound was Leif he wasn't doing very well. Possibly he was having a harsh reaction to what ever was used to knock them both out. The coughing and wheezing continued for a few minutes before a single strained word came from the darkness.
"Anu?" This was followed by more coughing and wheezing. "I cant," more wheezing and coughing, "breathe."
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Nov 22, 2007 16:16:48 GMT 9.5
Anu shook the pain from his head and held one eye open, teeth clenched, while he looked about the dark room. The floor was something between rubbish and mud, and there was a dim shaft of light coming from somewhere above and distant. He spotted a dark shape propped against the other wall. He put all his strength into moving over beside Leif, noticing that his companion wasn't doing too well.
"Take a deep breath," Anu instructed, even though he was trying not to cough himself. "Breathe in deep, hold it for a second, and," he coughed, "breathe it out again slowly..."
As Leif seemed to be managing a little better, he turned his head around to peer up at the shaft above them and the grate at the top. No other noise came to them. They were quite deep under the earth in some sort of old cellar. He turned up his nose as he saw he had scraped his arms and legs over the filthy mud.
|
|
|
Post by Scraverx on Nov 27, 2007 16:48:43 GMT 9.5
It took a while but Leif did manage to get his breathing under control, more or less though there was still the occasional cough. "I feel like I just fought ten rounds with my father." He said then slowly opened his eyes enough to squint into the darkness before rubbing at them with the heals of his palms.
"Whatever they knocked us out with was strong." he commented after coughing a bit. "You feel kinda sluggish too I guess?" He then finally looked toward the grate as well then looked around to see if he could spot anything useful, without having to move himself too far. "Ugh... doesn't look like they left us any water or anything. Probably just dropped us down here."
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Nov 29, 2007 7:11:34 GMT 9.5
When Leif asked if he was feeling sluggish, he forced the coughs deeper down and fought off the pain harder, not wanting to look weak. He seemed determined to take the role of the leader, and he wasn't about to let anything like a bit of pain or dizziness stop him. He struggled to his feet, supporting himself by grasping the wall for a moment, and then he looked around as his eyes adjusted.
"Probably," Anu said. "They would want us dead after what I did." He looked down at Leif as though contemplating an apology, but he decided against it. Now wasn't the time for pity.
He realised that there was a door on the left wall, and Anu carefully went to it and tried the handle. It was like the entire door was carved utterly in the stone, because neither the handle nor the door would budge. He pushed gently into it with his arm and there came a cracking from the other side, like something being torn apart that has been rusted together for a long time. Taking a few steps back, he put forward his right shoulder and, with a sudden burst of energy, tackled the door. A louder snapping came from behind, but the door still would not budge. He continued this shoulder-tackling a few more times, each time taking more steps back. It looked extremely painful for him, but still he did not show any signs of stopping. Dust and fragments would fall down the front of the door. Finally, he collapsed to the floor, sitting but leaning up and supporting himself with his arms. As he had used both shoulders, both were red and cut. He just stared at the door as he caught his breath.
|
|
|
Post by Scraverx on Nov 30, 2007 6:22:21 GMT 9.5
If Anu could struggle up to his feet then Leif could too, Nikina certainly would although a god would unlikely be in such a situation to start with. There was also the matter of the younger boy looking down at him after that seemed to encourage the Chain tattooed youth.
He pushed and clawed his way to his feet, fighting off pain and dizziness much like Anu had. "If we're going to get out of here we're probably going to have to work together." He surmised as Anu pounded him self against the old door. Leif then investigated further, partly feeling his way around their 'prison' to see if there might be anything at all useful to them both.
His investigation came to an end at the door and he leant heavily against it. He wasn't just resting though because he slid down slightly as he centred him self, braced his feet, bent his knees and shoved. This was a continuous application of weight as opposed to Anu's sudden jolts, much like he might use to push a bogged wagon out of the mud.
After several minutes of this he stopped then checked to see if he could feel hinges on this side of the door - better to be sure which way a door swings before throwing yourself against it, after all. "I'd guess this door hasn't been opened since before you were born," he commented. Not making fun, just stating simple fact. "Or, it's barred on the other side, or it opens in this way. It's old though so maybe the two of us can bust through. That or we try and get to that grate." He said and finally pointed up at the shaft of light. "We could maybe build a pile of this rubbish then you could stand on my shoulders and try for the grate."
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Dec 7, 2007 7:12:16 GMT 9.5
Anu didn't even look up at the grate. "It's too high," he said as he stood up again, a little wobbly in the legs. "If it is barred, it would be a single beam across the middle somewhere."
He went to Leif and observed that there were indeed hinges visible, and they appeared to be broken. He lifted both fists and pounded both the top and bottom of the door. It budged a little, but it would need a far greater force to come loose from its frame. Taking a moment to calculate something, he indicated Leif to stand clear. He took a crouching position and closed his eyes. There was a sudden air of utter calmness about him. His legs did not wobble and his arms did not twitch from the cuts. He was still. Then he stood, turned, and counted steps backwards. When he turned back around, he stared the door down with furious determination. He ran, he jumped, and with his foot held forth in a flying kick, the door spun round on the beam, so, though the beam did not break, the door was not on its and it acted more like a flap on a central pivot. His other foot only just cleared the beam, which was fortunately lower than he had anticipated. Anu disappeared into the shadows. There was a thump from him landing and then another crash from the door spinning and falling onto stone. The doorway only had a beam across it, now.
Any judge would have sighed at the lengths Anu went to for things that could be solved with simpler methods. Silence.
|
|
|
Post by Scraverx on Dec 7, 2007 10:32:35 GMT 9.5
"Or you could do that..." Leif said as he climbed over the beam into the next room, if it was in fact a room and not a passage way or something. Considering it was dark down here it was hard to tell. He then found Anu and helped him up, even if the younger boy didn't actually need a hand up. "That was pretty amazing and a bit crazy," he commented now not coughing nor having any trouble breathing. "There was no way to know what was on the other side." A pause. "Well done any how." He said and gave Anu a congratulatory slap on the back.
He then began moving around this new space they found themselves in trying too get an idea of how big it was and which way they may have to try next. No point wasting time oohing and ahing over Anu's efforts, or even checking he was okay and not seriously injured - most likely what his students got after a good training session or a win in the Arena. After a moment though he looked towards Anu. "Next one's mine." Of course he's assuming that there's another door.
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Dec 12, 2007 19:44:16 GMT 9.5
Anu had a proud grin on his dirty face when he got to his feet on his own. He seemed a little shaken, but as always, he shrugged it off. Whoever had taught him to handle pain had done so very well... Perhaps a little too well?
He stood and observed the room around them with the limited light they had. They were in a room that stretched off in corridors at the far end left and right. Those corridors were coated in shadow, and even the open doorway on the far wall was impenetrable to their unadjusted eyes. From the looks of things, they could have been in anything between a prison and some old changerooms. The stone brick rooms had an orderly feel, and the layout was certainly orderly, even if it was so thick with grime and cobwebs that it obviously hadn't been used for many, many years.
"What is this place..." Anu muttered, more so in astonishment than actually asking. "We have three paths right here to choose from. If they threw us down here like that, they are assuming we can't get out." He frowned at Leif. "I don't think we should split up. There might be something dangerous down here. There might be Raergn down here..."
[Feel free to make up the layout of the place. Nothing is set in concrete besides the plotline]
|
|
|
Post by Scraverx on Dec 13, 2007 21:31:51 GMT 9.5
Leif picked up a chunk of something off the floor, a piece of brick or tile it didn't really matter. "I say we go right." He said then scratched a mark in the grime on the wall at one end of the right passage. "If we put a mark on the wall we'll know if we're going in circles." Then to make sure he made an arrow shape out of rubble in the middle of the floor pointing along the right passage.
"No point sitting around doing nothing, right? Lets go." And he set off down the right passage most likely expecting Anu will follow since he doesn't think it's a good idea to split up. "You're right about not spitting up though... we'll get further together.
The right passage wasn't long but it too split left and right at the end. "You got the feeling this is an old changerooms at one of the old Arenas? Ok, you pick next but I say we go left." He had his chunk of rubble ready to scratch a mark on the wall.
|
|
|
Post by Treijim on Dec 15, 2007 7:23:15 GMT 9.5
Anu followed closely behind as the light lessened more and more. He watched keenly whenever Leif marked the wall and floor, knowing to mimic that if ever they got separated somehow.
He shrugged when asked the question, "I dunno. It has that sort of layout, but the old changerooms led to all other places. There were lots of little offices and practice rooms, bathing rooms, meeting rooms, store rooms, libraries, private chambers..." He trailed on a little more, unsure as to how much of FistFighting history Leif knew. "It just has that sort of feel about it, but it could be anything, really."
He looked both ways down the next corridor, as though the black holes had some sort of distinguishing feature to let them know which one led out and which one just led further in. He motioned for Leif to mark the wall on the right, and when he did, they went down the right passage again. They passed under a high shaft from through which some light entered. There was a grate at the top, and the shaft was very high and too small for anyone their size to fit through. Standing under this new light, Anu looked around, spotting a door at the end of a small side-corridor. It was slightly ajar.
"Do you want to kick that one in?" Anu said, most likely joking, yet his straight face told otherwise. "Should we stray from our path? There could be a staircase behind it."
|
|