Nadiel immediately spun around in the hope of at least catching a glimpse of the figure supposedly behind him, but her absence was an instant clue that he had been duped. By this time Vivian had snatched up and brought her tongue to the back of his neck, causing him to narrow his eyes and huff in disapproval. "A little below the belt, don't you think?" he uttered in contempt. "Not yet," she replied after licking her lips, "That comes later. But first we need to find out if you can fill his shoes. I had a feeling that you might not be in the mood so a little coaxing might be necessary." "Lucky guess" Nadiel retorted angrily as he attempted in vain to break free of her grip. "Sorry, little man, that won't work." She spoke the truth, he simply didn't have the strength to wriggle his way out of her hand, and with his arms pinned at his sides he had very few options left. The one thing he could have done is an attempt at releasing the seal hidden within his shells himself, he had no firing angle but instead he could unleash all of the energy stored there all at once, turning both himself and Vivian's arm into a burning pile of ashes. But painful suicide, as honorable as it was, remained an even less appealing option than finding out the hard way what Vivian's idea of 'coaxing' entailed. "Fine, just get it over with..." he rasped when he had finally realized this. However, there had been a silent conjecture of displeasure for the situation, and the time had come for it to finally be heard. Nadiel was forcefully and unexpectedly torn from Vivian's had and was left suspended in midair for a moment before lurching forward then flying at amazing speed in the opposite direction, eventually disappearing into the greenery when his arching trajectory began to deteriorate. "Actually," said a soft voice, "I was right behind him."
Nadiel's flight was quite brief. After being tossed a distance of no more than a hundred meters his lack of aerodynamic proficiency had caused him to crash into something with the grace of a brick. The landing was relatively soft, much to his horror he had fallen right onto the belly of the very last living thing he wanted to see, who had been following his scent but had stopped for a meal and a nap. Even after the impact she did not seem to have been jarred from her sleep, and Nadiel took great care to keep it that way. He slowly and quietly stepped back, hoping to slip away before being noticed. Unfortunately for him, even in her sleep such a disturbance was quickly noted and even with her eyes closed she could tell exactly what he was doing. With the sun setting over his head, the glare kept his face dark and anonymous, while he was given a painful glimpse at the blonde locks of the predator secretly eying him. He eventually turned to move away at a faster pace, but took one fateful look behind to see that his makeshift landing pad remained asleep, but much to his dismay she had vanished. He immediately moved with a purpose for he knew what he was up against. He had observed her hunting techniques on many occasions and every time he was taken aback at just how good she was at it. The few seconds in which he had taken his eyes off of her would have been all the time she needed to be practically anywhere, so the one thought on Nadiel's mind was RUN LIKE HELL! It didn't matter if she had in mind to eat him or to once again be his oppressive babysitter, being caught by her would equal total misery, so he focused all of his energy into evading her. Nadiel employed every trick he knew, anything from leaving his cloak behind to confuse her sense of smell to swiftly bounding between the trees to provide superfluous movement for her motion-tracking sense to follow. The chase went on for hours through the night, and every so often the two participants would catch glimpse of one another, sometimes even making taunting gestures when one or the other would momentarily gain the upper hand.
For Crisis this was an unexpected treat, a prey item that could keep pace, use cunning tactics, even egg her on. It was a tantalizing thrill, one that she didn't get often. For her the challenge was so enjoyable that even when the night had passed and the sunrise had illuminated their winding path she continued onward, practically begging for more. Both her quarry and herself had been pushed to the brink of exhaustion, but it would only be a matter of time before she finally claimed her prize. She had not bothered to ascertain the identity of her catch, but when the morning light shone on his face and she could see her long-lost acquaintance it didn't really come as much of a surprise, in fact she had recognized him hours earlier. It was only natural for him to mumble angrily to himself for having spent all of that effort to avoid her fruitlessly, even to question her intentions even after she had found out that it was him that she had been following all this time. But she had promised to let him live, and she wasn't the type to betray a friend. Her one condition to let him off the hook for his disappearance that lasted for months was a mandatory game of tag when she could rest up for it. Though Nadiel maintained his choleric disposition on the outside, at some level at least he too was relieved to be in caring hands, even those that all but squeezed the life out of him in overbearing displays of affection. But he knew how pure her intentions were, it was no one's fault but his own that his six-foot frame simply wasn't built to cope with a naga's touch. Just as he was learning how to survive being around her she too was learning how not to accidentally crush him like an insect. She had made some breakthroughs, in his absence she had experimented with some of her food items, and though there were a few mishaps for a few unfortunate souls, she had become proficient enough at delicately handling them, enough so that she could pick up Nadiel by the collar of he cloak and bring him home to the great tree without so much as putting a bruise on him. He wasn't at all pleased with this degrading method of transportation or the idea of being Crisis' plaything, but he didn't exactly have the energy to resist. As soon as he was set down the first thought on his mind was to find shelter in which to rest, the night had been harder on him than anyone else after all. Near to the great tree was another adjacent to it with a large knothole, though Nadiel could barely squeeze his way inside, the interior was large enough for him to curl into a ball and get some sleep in safety. For the time being this would be his new home.
Several hours later he was quite rudely roused from his comfortable sleep by what felt like an earthquake. Just barely curious enough to find out what was making all the ruckus (though for no reason but to silence it so he could continue where he left off) he stuck his head out of the knothole only to come within inches of Crisis' immense eyeball, which was stationed just outside. Startled, he lost balance and bolted back inside, much to the amusement of his visitor. "Come quick" she exclaimed when she was done giggling, "come see what Anna has for you." He had long since forgotten that he had given up his optical equipment and left them in her care, in the meantime he had gotten used to getting by with only his bare eyes, but after the experience of the previous evening, in which he had literally been picked up and thrown by Ryoko without even noticing that she was there, having his gear sounded like a profoundly good idea. Still half-asleep he wormed his way out of his shelter and trudged over to where Anna had set up shop. Only after seeing her creations for himself did his eyes finally flare open. "Go on" she called, obviously proud of her work, "Try it out". Nadiel removed his cloak and tied it around his waist, he then donned his sleek new equipment. His mask, previously blocky and crude, now converged to an elegant curved form that resembled the head of a serpent. His generator was a little larger, but seemed to weigh only half as much. And his rifle scope now had a much more intricate display and longer shape. He kicked on the system, and within a split second all of the functions came to life far more quickly than before. The mask's air filters gave a hiss as they circulated the new air. The plasma heads up display materialized over his view, and displayed in addition to a plethora of new targeting reticules over a much wider view, the name "Pit Viper enhanced optical targeting apparatus, mk. IV". Anna leaned closer to him "So, how is it?" she asked. Nadiel slowly leaned his head to the left and to the right. "I can see the wind blowing. I can hear it when you blink. I'll actually be able to find her with this... It's beautiful." Flattered by his comment, Anna proceeded to explain the changes she had made. Implementing Deluran technology into an Ellisian design had created something that neither civilization could devise on their own. As she concluded her explanation of the new features, including a remote link between the scope and the mask, and the addition of a bona-fide targeting computer mounted with the generator, something suddenly distracted Nadiel, who stepped away and gazed into the distance to the south. "She's coming this way..." he said softly.
Subject: Ch. 11 -Return to Normality 
Sat Apr 12, 2008 2:44 pm
