The Neverending War (modern war)

"Hmhm you're just trying to make me feel better," she stuck her tongue back out at him. with a sigh she settled her head back on the pillow. "Heh what a way to end the trip eh?"

"At least we all came out on top, for better or for worse. I would have been pissed to join my ancestors and have the story of my death be two arrows in the back." He huffed and leaned back into his bed.

"Hmhm." Kara lifted her he'd to look around with a frown. "wonder where my pack went...if I've lost it mother Gingsing will kill me. one of my best costumes is in there."

"If someone hasn't found it we'll head back to the area to look for it. I'll make sure to keep my eyes aware this time, in case those weren't the only bandits in the area." Andre responded, doing his part to make Kara feel better.
Hyero looked up at his father. "I can promise you they weren't. Bandits have been harassing the area for the past few years. The attack on you guys was one of the milder versions."

Kara slowly lifted her head to give Hyero look with one eyebrow raised. "Mild? you call that mild? Ohi!" she flopped roughly back onto the pillow with a roll of her eyes, tails hanging over the beds edge a hand covering her eyes. "if that's your lots version of mild, I'd Hate to see bad."

"Men, women, children all dead. Cattle slaughtered, piled, and burned. Crops poisoned, farms razed." Hyero stated nonchalantly. "You all managed to survive. Hardly anyone in this town or any surrounding are able to say as much."

Kara pushed herself up on an elbow giving Hyero a droning look, ears pinned. "Has anyone tried to do anything about this?"

"I have. Numerous times. I almost die each time. These bandits are ridiculous. They aren't like your normal bandits. They're trained. Very well, in fact." Hyero folded his hands in front of his mouth and stared out the window again.

Kara's frown turned to shocked surprise. "don't tell me you went by yourself!!"

"I'm the only one in this village with any military training. Plus, I've got some insane blood running through my veins, courtesy of my father and my mother."
At that, Andre looked at Hyero and raised an eyebrow. "Your mother?"
"I didn't expect you to know, considering you didn't even know you had a son for a couple hundred years." There was a sting in his voice as he spoke those words, and he gave Andre a hurtful glare. "Mother knew a special kind of magic, and as magic does, it altered her genes and through her, my own and gave me a little gift of her own before she departed this life." Hyero cut Andre off as he went to inquire. "I can leech off of the magic in the air and through that manipulate any for of the universe. Water, air, earth, you name it, I can control it."

Kara raised an eyebrow and looked at Arashi. "you've one weird ass family soldier boy."

"You've no idea." Andre said with a chuckle. "Comes with being born at the high point of the magical age. When I cam into this world, everything to know about magic was known. Anything was possible with the right amount of focus and magical energy. Even the full resurrection of the dead. That's why the Dracus killed my clan. Think of it like a witch-hunt. They have a mind of metal and science. They're scared of the world of magic, and they have every right to be. My clan paid for it, though, and as a result, much of the knowledge of magic has been lost over the millenia."

Kara tilted her head. "I don't know much about magic...gypsy's are more superstitious then anything....Actually if it hadn't been for my mom I wouldn't have even known magic existed," she sighed softly as she slowly lowered herself back down.

"Oh? And why's that?" Andre asked, shifting in his bed a bit. The wounds on his back itched fiercely.

"well...like I said gypsies are realty superstitious. back then they believed, and some still do,that speaking about magic invited the evil eye and that the magic weilders would hear you and curse you. mom was a secret wiccan. she practiced natural magic but not even dad knew...she only told me."

"And it's superstitions like that that brought down the age of magic. Don't get me wrong, I've nothing against your people Kara, but the narrowmindedness that the average individual has adapted in relation to magic irks me, especially since I have lived to see it's golden age." Andre folded his arms across his chest and hefted a sigh.

"Things are getting better now....not much but some....Some of the bullheadedness is leaving being replaced by people that accept one and all." Kara smiled over at him. "People like me." She sighed and looked sadly up at the ceiling. "But for every me there are two Anaas. Healers are very set in their ways. They believe the only magic should be that of their plants and herbs, no other should wield such power. Plus theres their crazy strict belief that nothing 'unnatural' should go into the 'pure organic body'."

Andre heaved a small shrug. "I don't disagree with the morals and practices of the healers. While I dislike their narrowmindedness of magic, their methods work. Being a man of science and magic, I can appreciate their work better than most magic users. As my father always told me when I was a pup; 'Never change something that works.'"

Kara burst out laughing, "Thats what Mother Gingsing says! As does Anaas mentor! Oh owowowowowow," she ended up gripping her side desperately trying to stop laughing for the pain it brought. "Ow," she gasped with a chuckle. With another 'hmhm' of laughter Kara sighed in content. After a small pause she started singing a soft love song under her breath. It spoke of a random meeting in a beautiful place and of the surprise when the man found out he was to escort the woman to her home far in the north. It spoke of their travels and awkward moments, and soft smiles and light touches. Soon, to soon, they reached the end of their time together and the man had to leave back to his home. The end told of how the woman desperately wanted to see him again, and share in the joy of the little girl she had had by him. How soon they would be together and be a family.
"........Anaa sings it better," Kara whispered. Her breath rasped and an arm covered her eyes. "Sorry. That song always gets me."

Andre's ears perked and he looked over at Kara, awe struck. "Anaa actually sings that?"

Kara smiled sadly. "She used to. Before a rogue Dracus squad attached and killed everyone but us two. You should have seen her back then soldier boy. She smiled back then. Only when she was dancing but still, it was bright and true....But she no longer sings. No longer dances. No longer feels or smiles.....That song was written by her mother, for her father, when they finally reached him down in the south. It was the story of their love. She was going to sing it to him, but, it never happened.....They never reached him...."

Andre was silent for a while. He couldn't imagine the pain they must have gone through. He had lost numerous loved ones in his lifetime, but nothing quite like that. An idea sparked in his head, but he kept it to himself. "I've gone through many pains in my lifetime, but nothing quite like that. It must have been horrible..."

"it was...had nightmares about it for years. time heals everything and all that crap."

"Mmm... I can't say it does. Not always, anyways." Andre grunted and shifted in his bed again. "I seriously hope we don't have to stay in this damned hospital for too long. I hate feeling so vulnerable."

"We'll be here as long as Anaa says. I bet you know this but she's not one to cross, 'specially when it comes to healer stuff."
Kara suddenly jumped up yelping, looking with scared surprise at her bed reaching for a spot on her back. "Something bit me!"

Andre and Hyero both looked over at her with an eyebrow quirked. "You okay, Kara?"

"that hurt!" she frowned now glaring at the bed. she spun around so her back was to the Arashis, pulling her hair over her shoulder, "do you two see anything?"

Hyero couldn't hold it back anymore, and he began to chuckle. Andre turned around and looked at him with stern eyes. "Hyero, what did you do?"
Hyero put his ears back, shut his mouth and looked up his dad with the most guilty face one could imagine. "N-n-nothing!"

Kara very slowly turned, eyes narrowed with a deadly mischievous smile. "Do you really want to start a game of pranks with a gypsy love?" she whispered, smile growing wider as she slowly let er hair fall and even more slowly sat on the edge of her cot, legs crossing, glinting eyes never leaving his.

"I didn't do anything! I swear! I just found it funny!" He then pointed at Andre "He did it, not me!"
Andre's ears went back against his head. "You little runt, you're supposed to be on my side!"

Kara through her head back and laughed which quickly turned husky and painful as she held her wounded side. She rubbed the mattress with a hand, searching for whatever had bit her. "What was that? It hurt whatever is was."

"Just a little psychic pinch." He responds innocently.

Kara froze in her actions and looked at him from the corner of her narrowed eye, one eyebrow quirked. "Is that so? Well your aim isnt very good then soldier boy." She swung herself back onto the bed and lay with arms under her head, eyes closed and a cheeky smile on her muzel. "You were about a hands length to far north." She yawned languidly and proceeded to pretend to start falling asleep.

"I know that. My aim is perfect." He murrs and flicks his tail.
"This is getting wierd..." Hyero whispers as he gets up to leave the room.

Kara chuckled lightly and her tails swayed as if in a breeze over the edge of the bed. "It was very nice meeting you Hyero. I hope you come by again soon." Her eyes cracked open and she gave him a lazy wink before reclosing them and wiggling to get more comfortable.

"Yeah. I'll be back later. Gonna go get some fresh air, or something." He grumbled, and left the room.
Andre shook his head and looked over to Kara. "I'm sorry. He can be a moody little shit."

Kara chucked, "Hes not nearly as bad as half the gypsy kids i know."

"This is a good day for him. The whole situation of his birth really did a number on his personality. He still listens and does what I ask him to, but he's very impolite about it." He scrunched his nose and looked around the room for a moment. "So..." He began, in an attempt to change the topic of conversation.

Karas lips twitched upwards as her tails swayed. "Yeeess?" Kara hissed softly in frustration sat up, swinging her legs over the edge once more. "This i why I always hated geting sick, i can not hold still."

"I know how you feel. Thankfully, two hundred years of meditation has allowed me the training necessary to keep my spastic tendencies in order."

"two hundred? ... hows that possible?" Kara tilted her head at him, frowning.

"I gathered enough finitium and filled it with enough energy to sustain a spell that would provide me with the nutrients I need."

Kara sat with a blank look blinking at him. "... Huh? Sorry but the only magic i deal with is gypsy suductress magic love," Kara said with a wave of her hand.

"You do a decent job of it..." He murmured under his breath.

Kara twitched and ear. "what was that soldier boy?" she said pretending she hadnt heard him.

"I'm sure you heard me. I know how keen your ears are." He quirked an eyebrow at her, then adjusted himself in the bed to be more comfortable.

the artic fox got a wolfish grin and sat up strait, tails flagging up and down. "yes but can't blame a girl for trying to hear it again."

"True enough." He trilled and laid back in his bed, staring at the ceiling. "I sure hope we get to leave soon. I have no intentions of staying here more than one day."

"like i said youll stay as long as Anaa orders. you dont want teh get on her bad side," Kara said thoughtfully as she gazed into space. "only decent huh? sounds like im slipping. need to pick it up a little."

Andre got a small smirk on his face and he looked over at her. "You think so, eh? Decent not good enough?"