notavirtue | Journeys with a Prothean (Year Two)

Journeys with a Prothean (Year Two)

Javik

COURT
Unseelie

TITLE
Border Shark

ABLE TO FAST-TRAVEL
Yes. Possesses Maglor's Magic Ring, but doesn't tell anyone

RESIDENCE IN 2,701 Caer Scima/The Station

RESIDENCE IN 2,702 You can't tie down a banjo man

MAJOR EVENTS

Promotion
Following his participation in the war and his work along the borders, Javik is given the title of Captain within the Unseelie army.

Treun
Javik attends the summer Tourney in Treun, and meets with the Governor again.

Amunet
Javik learns the secret of Vanessa's Ives possession during Samhain.

YEAR ONE | YEAR TWO | YEAR THREE

TIMELINE OF EVENTS

SPRING IN 2,701 (Mar, Apr, May)

MARCH - The new king of birds brings late snowstorms and a deep freeze to the Drabwurld. Visiting the ruins of Caer Scima, Javik travels with Katsa to assist refugees to the Third Tooth of Dorchadas. Javik visits Vanessa's spire, and once the snow has gone, he visits Damon and his sand worms. Maglor will be gone, having left Javik his magic ring and a shard-palantir. Javik is now the last of the Fellowship of Grumpy Old Men (and a Genie). Aragorn uses the shard-palantir to contact those that also have one.
APRIL - Reul's Right Hand, The Winter King and Unseelie General Saber Alter recruits Javik as an officer in the military. Not one to let emotions get control of him, Javik will bust up that harp as soon as he realizes what's going on. Time not spent flipping out about harps will be used to continue patrolling Dorchadas.
MAY - No more lockets or fairy rings or monarchs! Javik goes swan hunting, and racks up some cash to fund his travels. He stops in at the new trading post, meeting Vol'jin's brother-of-sorts, Thrall. At the Station he crosses paths with Midna, and they both head south together. Unfortunately, the road to Treun is awfully close to Seelie territories...

SUMMER IN 2,701 (Jun, Jul, Aug)

JUNE - Javik attends, but does not participate in the tourneys at Treun. He reconnects with Effy, Ben and Hikaru, and meets Diarmuid and Katherine. Athame has her second litter of puppies in the city. Following the tourney he meets with Debal to discuss replacing Vridan's grave marker... and the governor gets to dogsit Prativ for awhile.

JULY - Javik heads south to Leathann, and is entirely unaware of the hangings in Daonna until news reaches that far south.

AUGUST - Leathann's Festival of Lights occurs during the second week. Javik attends and observes, and visits the Tower of the Oracle. While there's no obvious mark left behind by Vridan, the design of the tower is reminiscent of the architecture found on Feros and Eden Prime. Returning to the mainland, Javik teams up with Diarmuid to take down some rampant forest golems.

FALL IN 2,701 (Sept, Oct, Nov)

SEPTEMBER - Language is of no concern to him when people lose the ability to understand one another. He returns to Treun for the wreath festival, and is knee-deep in the resulting riots. 'Wish you were here' postcard material. Ben takes a look through Javik's eyes to check up on him, and Javik doesn't appreciate it.

OCTOBER - Samhain! Javik meets Wan (twice), argues with Damon, gets drunk with Unseelie soldiers and the Brucolac, gets harassed by Effy and Archer and dances with Vanessa. He later returns to Vanessa's spire despite her warning against it.

NOVEMBER - After Samhain, Javik makes his yearly trip to Loch Sluagh, to visit the grave of Vridan and replace the marker. Following this he will return to Dorchadas to pick up his duties in the Unseelie army.

WINTER IN 2,701/2,702 (Dec, Jan, Feb)

DECEMBER - Protheans may have evolved as hunters, but the White Hart gets the drop on him. Javik will be a bear for the remainder of the month.

JANUARY - Travelling Dorchadas and/or a bear.

FEBRUARY - Travelling Dorchadas. Javik catches up with Katsa at the third spire, Diasbaile.

SPRING IN 2,702 (Mar, Apr)

MARCH - The skeletons strike while Javik is at Damon's spire.

APRIL - Missing fairies. Who cares.

( codes by whambam )( art source )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Is that what they're called? He kept referring to it as a 'space dog'." Fernando gave him an apologetic look, opening the door and barely pushing it open a crack before it was pulled open by a paw from the eager Buck, the varren darting out to all but throw himself at his parents.

Much sniffing and happy noises commenced. "Ah, if you'd like to come in, I'd be happy to get you something to eat or drink."

"Yes," said Damon from the bed, pushing up so he could walk over to the little chair and table set up that was for greeting guests when he didn't want to use his office, "come in and have a not-conversation with me about what an ass I am. Or maybe get drunk and loosen up. Either way..."

Space dog worked - they'd been called worse, after all, and that was kinder than he expected from Damon. "I require neither at the moment. There was someone coming behind me, however; they might have arrived by now."

Javik reconsidered, however, after stepping inside. It was cold out, but it had been a long, dry walk. That, and he was apparently standing in the baron's bedroom, which seemed like an incredibly odd place to conduct meetings.

He caught Fernando before he left. "Bring me something strong."

Prativ was the first to break free from the family meeting, and he trotted over to greet Damon, tail wagging. This was the guy that threw food to him!

"Was there? It seems to be a busy night." Fernando stepped aside to let Javik enter, watching Prativ go over to the Baron as if he was familiar with him. Damon might pull off the uncaring attitude of one who's above it all, but Fernando suspected otherwise. The pat to the head of the varren and the small imperceptible smile told him he might be right. A nod to Javik that he'd bring him what he asked and he left to do just that while checking in on the new visitor.

Damon found the spot on Prativ that always turned Buck into a pile of melted varren and gave it a scratch before coming over to gesture to Javik to sit. "You keep dropping by like this and I'm going to think you enjoy my company."

Javik ignored Fernando's nod, seemingly not even noticing when the man left. He was aware, of course, but best if he thought he was unseen.

Prativ sat, tilting his head up into Damon's hand, hind leg thumping briefly in response to the scratches. He looked a little disoriented when it stopped, staring up at him expectantly.

Instead of sitting outright, Javik eyed the chair, hands clasped behind his back. "As a captain in the Unseelie army, it is my duty to patrol the border. That includes your spire."

"Is that so? So you're... patrolling me? Does that mean I get a spanking if you think I've been naughty?" Damon laughed, finding his ever-present flask and filling a glass with it. Javik would be getting something else, but Fernando knew better than to take the neverending supply of alcohol from the vampire.

Buck came over and propped his head up on Damon's knee after the vampire sat, expecting pats. Buck got his pats.

"Find anything fun while you're patrolling?"

A... what? Javik simply frowned in response, finding it best to not take the bait. Damon was well aware of what patrolling entailed, after all.

"Sand." After a moment, he finally took a seat, folding his hands together on the table. Prativ watched Buck and Damon, sticking his nose forward to try and get in on some of those pats. Athame, meanwhile, ignored all of them, nose to the floor as she inspected the bedroom. There were a lot of weird smells in here.

"Gee, what a strange thing to find in a desert." Damon rolled his eyes, his other hand going to pat the other male varren, one head hooked over each knee and feeling a little ridiculous for it. Thankfully the mother seemed happy on her own, though she was likely going to get a noseful of Damon's laundry list of partners. Enjoy that.

"I take it that means you didn't find anything else worth mentioning?"

Prativ's tail started wagging again immediately, sometimes thumping into his son's side. He wasn't above shoving his own child out of the way if it meant more for him. Over by the bed, Athame let out a loud sneeze, looking up in surprise as if she had no idea where that sound had come from. Realizing she was by herself, the red varren finally trotted over to join them.

"No, aside from the person travelling behind me." Which seemed odd, and it bothered him that he couldn't figure out where they'd come.

Fernando would likely find out when he tried to greet the newcomer - a skeleton with more skeleton friends on the way.

Fernando had found out by the panic that was coming from lower in the spire, a runner coming up to tell him about the walking dead. Everyone assumed he'd go tell the Baron and Damon would deal with it since A) He was also undead (sort of) and B) Talk of how easily he'd killed the large sand worm had gotten out and while most people were familiar with lecherous horny slut Damon, people kept in mind that the vampire could tear the spine out of a worm the size of a freight train. Smiling charm or not, they knew what he was capable of.

Damon, however, could hear some of the mutterings from where he sat (yay, vampire hearing) and was already rolling his eyes as he waited for Fernando to make his way back up, drink for Javik entirely forgotten. He entered discreetly, eyes a little wide as he whispered from the door what the problem was, the majordomo knowing exactly how keen his master's hearing was.

Well, there went his happy catch up time. He stood, looking down at Javik as if assessing something. "You in the mood to do a little damage? Seems your patrolling missed a shambling skeleton and it's down there causing a ruckus."

Unbeknown to anyone in the spire or the town, that shambling skeleton wouldn't be the only one pulling itself free of the grave to seek out the living.

Despite the apparent lack of visible ears, Javik's hearing wasn't too far off from Damon's. The vampire had a very unique way of repeating whatever news he heard, so it was best to hear it from the source.

A scowl crossed his face, more at the fact that a skeleton was walking around than the jab about him missing something. It did explain why that traveler had appeared from nowhere... and it wouldn't be the first time the dead rose from their graves. Samhain was long since passed, though.

"Of course," he said, standing up. Both varren picked their heads up, watching their master keenly for commands. "I do not see how one skeleton can do much damage."

Without muscle and sinew to hold them together... he had no idea how it worked to begin with, though the answer was probably 'magic'.

Looks like they'd find out one way or the other. Fernando was already heading to get Damon's leathers, but Damon just waved it off. It was a skeleton. He could handle a puny little bag of bones just fine, thank you.

"Let's go find out, shall we?"

Of course, by the time they actually made it down to ground level, it was apparent from the screams and panicking spreading over the town that it wasn't just one skeleton. Doors were being barred up and Damon could hear the clinking of bone on bone as more stripped corpses began to creep towards the spire. The smell wasn't entirely pleasant either. Buck would have joined them, though it was likely he'd follow the other varrens in their actions before running headlong into the fray. Fernando also followed, carrying his sword and looking determined to make sure his lord and master made it back to his room safely.

"You just got back from a patrol, you say?" That last was directed at Javik, a bit of a barb at what he must have missed.

"Yes." Javik didn't looked ruffled, making a motion to the varren for them to follow him down. Athame and Prativ would gladly lead Buck, though they wouldn't be paying much attention to him. "It appears you require more men to cover the rest of the patrols, however."

One skeleton might have gotten past him, but the rest? That was on Damon's people. Including Fernando, who he glanced at once, as if questioning whether or not the man could actually fight. Turning back to the varren, he made another signal and pointed towards the nearest knot of shambling skeletons, and the pair of them were off. Bones were one of their all-time favorite things to chew on, at least. Drawing his own sword, he started towards another group, looking back at Damon briefly.

"Aim for the joints!" The first skeleton went down at the knees after a swing of the sword, though it kept trying to crawl towards him. Enemies that didn't feel pain were the worst.

Whoa, Buggy. This totally wasn't his fault. Or his guards' fault. Most people didn't go around checking on unmarked graves. Don't be shady, Javik.

Watching the varren go off after one group, Buck along for the fun, he turned and watched Javik go after another group, cutting the knees out from under one. Fernando drew his own sword, watching Javik's success before heading in to try to lop off a head. Unfortunately the corpse didn't seem to be of the zombie variety where head removal actually did anything. Curious, Damon went over to the skull lying on the ground, jaw opening and closing as he came closer as the stupid thing tried to bite at him. Snorting, he brought his foot down on it, crushing it and looking over at Fernando. The skeleton, minus another arm, suddenly dropped, as if its strings had been cut. Well. That made things easier. "Break the heads," he called to both Fernando and Javik and anyone else around battling the undead. He blurred over to a skeleton that had its bony fingers tangled in a woman's hair, the woman screaming as she was pulled against it, the other hand scoring marks across her shoulder. Damon came up from behind and removed the head, hands crumbling the skull. The skeleton drooped, the woman still screaming, not realizing she'd been saved. He didn't have time for this. Reaching out and pulling her around, he added compulsion to his command. "You're fine. Go home. Lock your doors and don't come out until the guards say it's all clear. Go clean that up," he said, gesturing to her shoulder as he let her go, moving on to find another bony body to decimate.

'Most people' included Javik, so either both parties were guilty, or innocent.

Damon moved fast, and while Javik could reasonably track him, there were other things to worry about. Speed and strength were apparently two things that vampires had over humans - and ambling skeletons. At his advice, Javik brought his foot down on the skull of the corpse that was still crawling at him, and then the rest of it died. Interesting. Why didn't just severing the head work?

Because magic, he could almost hear it out loud. It didn't matter who said it, but that was probably the answer. Hefting his sword with both hands, he swung at another one, flat of the blade obliterating the bone. The varren, for their part, were just ripping the undead to pieces, and then chasing the pieces if they were still mobile. Honestly, it just looked like they were having too much fun, but it did help. It gave the people more opportunity to escape the grasping fingers.

So thinking, Javik lowered his sword, letting his biotic corona flare out before directing the blast at the gathered skeletons. They broke apart, scattering across the ground and reduced to barely threatening at all. Now to just pick out the skulls and crush them.

'Because magic' was the bane of his life, Javik. Also the reason he could exist, so staying too irritated at it just didn't seem like a good idea. But once the defect of the skeletons had been discovered, he didn't waste much more time dallying around. Nor did the guards or Fernando, all following their lord's lead and knocking heads off to stomp on or crush with clubs. Even those being attacked, though the number was dwindling, were doing their part in trying to help knock skulls off into waiting hands, relieved when the skeleton trying to kill them suddenly fell apart.

Not that all got away without injury. There were plenty of those, one bad enough to need to be carted off to the clinic, bad off enough that Damon might have to go and offer blood to heal them after he was done. God, the life of a leader. So tiring.

But destroying things? That helped him. Position or not, Damon still had his grievances, and this was a cathartic way for him to work out his stresses. He lingered on the last few bodies, breaking arms and ribs and legs before crushing the head. He didn't get to destroy and hurt and hunt like he was used to. He was an authority figure now, for all that it meant crap to him. He couldn't just go out and be a vampire. This? Helped a little.

By the time they were done, bones were scattered everywhere. There was no telling which leg went with which torso anymore, so reassembling the dead for reburial would be... near impossible. Just the same, Javik predicted a number of these bones had come out of the desert, not buried by family but time and sand.

Slicing the skull of the last skeleton clean in half, Javik turned his attention back to the others. Damon was taking his time, it seemed, and Javik simply watched with that usual vaguely disgruntled look on his face. While he relished combat, had been born to it and made for it, it brought him no real amount of joy. Perhaps if it were a Reaper dying, but... not a bunch of skeletons.

"That appears to be the last of them," he called out.

Pity. He was having fun. Fangs out and eyes bloody, the display would maybe be a bit daunting for those not used to it. There were a few villagers that averted there eyes from the sight, but there were also those that seemed more intrigued than before. Well, that's what happened when people lived in a vampire town lorded over by a vampire Baron. It wasn't as if Damon went around vamping out all the time. He supposed, if anything, this might help with his... what did Fernando call it? His citizen loyalty? Staying up in his tower while shit hit the fan wouldn't exactly make him a very effective or useful lord. Coming down into the fracas, however...

And Javik, though not entirely a stranger to those that had seen the rare visit by the prothean, would likely gather his own following of those that saw him as a guardian and protector and not someone with a title who let others do all the heavy lifting. This, if anything, had earned the alien favor in Damon's little corner of the world.

Coming over to Javik, Damon's face went from somewhat fearsome back to the casual cheekiness he usually had, kicking a leg over to Buck as he went, sending the varren after it happily. He looked around and saw Fernando, no worse for wear, seeing to the gathering of the corpses and making sure they were all doubly dead. "You should come out more often," Damon said, smiling over at the captain. "Fun things seem to occur when you do."

It was a univeral trait among species, it seemed, to respect those you saw fighting over those that simply sat around and barked commands. For as hedonistic as Damon could be, the vampire could still fight, and literally got his hands dirty. That clearly went a long way with these people.

And, to some degree, with Javik. He hadn't expected much of the baron, or his man-servant, and in practically no time at all they'd cleaned up every shambling skeleton. Though it was dark now, he could neither see nor smell any stragglers. Whatever had caused it apparently ended, much like the spectre dogs that rose from the unmarked graves two years ago.

He watched the vampire's visage shift without comment, or reaction. "You have a strange definition of 'fun'. Does your spire have a graveyard?"

As in, maybe they should make sure everyone there had stayed six feet under.

"Not that I'm aware of. I don't think we've had much in the way of deaths, though I'm sure there's been a few." That was one of the aspects Damon didn't bother himself with. The dead were dead and but for the rare few occasions they refused to stay that way, he gave no shits about what happened afterwards. He called Fernando over and asked him the same question and the guard lifted his head, looking out the way that the shrine to the Black Shuck was. "There's a small one so far, my lord. Not many of ours have passed since we've set up here, but there was a place set out beyond the shrine for those who needed it."

Not that it mattered. It was only the unmarked graves being despoiled, not the marked ones. Of course, they couldn't know that, so Damon decided it best to make sure. There was a moment of concentration, a small frown on his face as he sent out a thought to his familiar, something he was getting better at utilizing lately. "She'll scout it out and let us know if we need to head that way. I suppose," he said, grinning over at Javik, "that you've earned yourself room and board for the night. Work up an appetite?"

As a matter of fact, he had worked up an appetite. Regardless of species, the use of biotics always seemed to make one hungry, though Javik never admitted it.

"I never received my first request for a drink." Maybe he could pin that one on Fernando, even if it was the skeleton's fault. Food and drink often went hand in hand, so he'd pick out what he could from there. A frown passed over his face, though, trying to work out what he'd said a moment ago. "Who is 'she'?"

Fernando's lips thinned at that. Sorry, Buggy, but he'd had more important things to do, okay? God. But, hearing his lord offer a meal and lodging, Fernando left the clean up to the rest of the guards, going in to find someone to cater to the strange being's needs.

Meanwhile, Damon answered him with a shrug up towards the sky. "Nevermore. The handy little feathered companion Sparkletits deigned to gift me. No idea why, but she comes in handy."

An eye in the sky, then. Handy certainly described it.

"In that case, we may consider ourselves warned should anymore... skeletons arrive." At times like this, it would have been nice to access the locket network. There was no telling if this was an isolated incident, or widespread like so many other catastrophes in this world. They'd have to wait for word from the other spires, or other means of communication.

Damon was thinking along those lines himself, gesturing back towards the spire. "Well, Captain, if you want to come up and join me in my office, I can put out a call to the other spires to see if it's localized or not." Handy things, those magic little crystal compass fax machines. They only worked from spire to spire and the castle, but... hey. It was better than nothing.

Better than nothing, indeed.

"Very well." Javik nodded once, sliding his sword back into its scabbard. He motioned for Damon to lead the way, as the varren came back up to join them. All of them were panting from exertion, but that had been a damn good work out for them.

[ooc: end thread y/n? i can keep going if you want to!]

[Ooc: Enh, might as well. It'll just wind up with Fernando spitting in his food and giving him dirty looks and them bicker/bantering at each other. I'd love to have Javik come to the oasis opening, though. Should be around the end of May/beginning of June? Just in time for the new batch of arrivals.]

Journeys with a Prothean (Year Two)

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)