Burn Them!

[minamaefair]

New Flames || Mina/War/Naomi

[minamaefair]

Mina reached for her with infirm fingers, her head falling against War’s large shoulders, her arm looping around one of her horns as she stretched around her neck like a decorative frill. “Just promise…you’re not the reaper.” She sighed, sagging with her eyes closed against her head, arms limp. “…thought you were gone.” She admitted quietly, looking over at Naomi for a moment, her eyes working at the corners, though not a drop appeared around her eyes, even as they fell closed. “Glad they didn’t get you, either.” She patted gently at War’s head. 

[ladyopalescence]

Naomi smiled gently and moved forward to help her settle in War’s grip and paused to brush her cheek gently. “You know even better then I that not even the Reaper could create a clone of me well enough to fool you.” She told her lightly with a soft smile, though it faltered slightly, “I might well have been ended, had Jamie not made such a racket in escaping the party sent for us. But…discussions can wait until you’ve rested and been fed properly.” She nodded, mastering her features again and turning to begin leading the way back out of the fort; keeping pace with War this time. 

[professor-war]

War huffed, ignoring the pat to her head and biting back the commentary about how she wasn't a damn house cat. "They would have been fools to try and come for me, Cub, you know that as well as anyone." She answered though with a faint smile and began to carry Mina out; settling into a stride on all fours so that Mina's weak frame could rest over the span of her back.

[minamaefair]

New Flames || Mina/War/Naomi

[professor-war]

War hissed and shook her head, “What did you think would happen, Prissy. Stand back. You just hold on cub,” She turned to Mina then, sheathing her daggers and clenching her clawed fists in preparation. “We’re going to get you out of here.” She smirked lightly, a burst of chilled water breathing through the heat of the room and engulfing War’s paws. She reached for the bars then and with a snarl she began to pull apart the already brittle metal; a hiss of water against heated metal filling the room. There was a final crumble of earth as the stone beneath their feet jumped to life at War’s bidding as well and shot up; splintering the bars and breaking open an exit for her before retracting back into the ground. 

[minamaefair]

She knew the voices, of course - her favorite Kitten, it seemed, was Dhuum’s messenger as well as her Mesmer. That, or they had both died, and were really coming to greet her in the Underworld. Still, she tried to stay awake, her head rotating to face the ceiling again before she tried to drag herself up, managing only to crook onto her side, resting her head on her elbow. 

She couldn’t help a swell of unreasonable amusement as she watched the bars shatter, her eyes slipping closed again. 

"Did you let her wear white…?" 

[professor-war]

War chuckled and shook her great head, "Oh no, Cub, you know just as well as I do that no one tells miss prissy what to wear." She mused, ignoring the look she was sure the mesmer was attempting to burrow into the back of her head. "Don't exhaust yourself, come here, you want a piggy back?" She asked, trying to control the disapproving twitch of her muzzle at the words, but she moved into the cell and began to carefully scoop her up. 

[minamaefair]

New Flames || Mina/War/Naomi

[ladyopalescence]

Naomi gave the charr a look. Yes, she understood Cinderseeker’s protest to her wardrobe, but it was going to be pointedly ignored. “What could have happened here..?” She asked with a frown, staying close and with in Cinderseeker’s heat shield, but bending to get a closer look at another pile of ash nearby. “It doesn’t look as if they were in battle. What ever happened took them by surprise…I don’t think we needed the full party after all…” She mused and moved to stand again, her gaze turning and locking down the hall. 

"There….I can hear her…" She knew that magic, that spark, how ever weak it was just then. "Mina." She was off, down the hall, and briefly exposed to the heat that was trapped in these stone walls. It was like running through an oven set on high, but the relief of Cinderseeker’s shield returned suddenly as the charr turned and bounded after her to catch up. 

They were running down a spiral case of stairs to the dungeon below. Everything was, indeed, dead. Nothing but ashes and char marks on the wall. “Mina!” Naomi’s voice seemed to echo in the eerie silence of this place.

[minamaefair]

Her throat was dry and cracked, though the rest of her felt rather wonderful in the heat; the stone wasn’t cold anymore. The world seemed perfectly stalled in an endless summer to her addled mind, and she could only manage a quiet whimper through the fog - 

She knew that voice. But it was impossible. She was hallucinating. She was dead, and Dhuum had taken a rather cruel disguise. Still, she couldn’t help the small brush of joy through her numbed mind, her attention struggling out.

Her eyes fluttered open, her head turning towards the door of the cell. There was the faintest flicker of a spark, before the remains of the torch outside of her prison bars lit itself and acted as a beacon. The fire didn’t last long, however, even in the heat, as the bare ashes burned themselves out again in short order, the entire thing crumbling to the ground, echoed only with a somewhat defeated, quieter sound of her disapproval. 

[ladyopalescence]

"There~!" Naomi gasped and the hard ‘click’ of her heal echoed in the heated chamber. She darted down the hall, War right on her tail until she came to the cell. "By Lyssa’s Grace….Mina!" It was a terrible sight to see, the redheaded elementalist on the last lengths of her strength. Naomi didn’t think when she reached out for the bars of the cell; wanting to break them, but only finding them to be scorching hot. She gasped and recoiled, her gloves burned and the skin beneath raw.

[professor-war]

War hissed and shook her head, "What did you think would happen, Prissy. Stand back. You just hold on cub," She turned to Mina then, sheathing her daggers and clenching her clawed fists in preparation. "We're going to get you out of here." She smirked lightly, a burst of chilled water breathing through the heat of the room and engulfing War's paws. She reached for the bars then and with a snarl she began to pull apart the already brittle metal; a hiss of water against heated metal filling the room. There was a final crumble of earth as the stone beneath their feet jumped to life at War's bidding as well and shot up; splintering the bars and breaking open an exit for her before retracting back into the ground. 

[minamaefair]

New Flames || Mina/War/Naomi

The world had lost its focus several days before - everything was a blur. The fabric of what remained of her armor, tattered and fragmented though it was, acted as a wrap, where she could manage to pull it over her skin. 

When she was conscious enough to know where she was, she reminded herself of the events: 

Naomi was gone. Defected. They had wanted her dead. They sent out a squad and took Jamie instead. They tried to send her out, and she had refused. 

That was when she’d been locked up. The Flame Citadel held more than enough space to keep her from anyone’s hearing, and despite protests, she was left to rot, or await news of her death. 

Their mistake had been putting her underground, thinking to quell her natural fire abilities. 

An Elementalist was only a strong as her weakest element, and Mina Maefair was still a force to be feared, and while she waited - first six days, then eight, and one more still - the voices of a large party, one meant for one thing only - to put down a Mesmer - were not lost on her.

The last thing she clearly remembered was the pain of ripping her aggression outward in an arch of fire. The devastation was lost on her, though the entire keep went eerily silent afterwards. The cold press of the floor came next, with a sting in her face and hands, her wrists bruised but now free from the bonds that had crumbled against her weight after the heat of her attack had cooled. The remains were kicked away with waning energy, the fabric her last defense against the cold that now seemed to chill her to the bone, dragging her into unconsciousness again. 

[professor-war]

She heard the mesmer's question, she had four ears after all, she wasn't deaf, but she shook it off. "Of course she's here, can't you smell the scorched fur?" No? well of course she couldn't, Naomi was only a human after all and their noses weren't worth a damn. "The New Flame Citadel, raised from the ancient foundations of the previous, fallen dungeon. If only they had half a brain among them, they might have thought to bring her to the arctic instead. Little Firecracker isn't going to be put out but a little earth." She smirked slightly, her massive fangs peeking out more and the grip on her daggers tightened slightly. 

"Something's wrong though, it's much too hot. It would be best if Twiggy and Twitchy stayed back. I can provide you with protection, but not for the both of them as well." Naomi's confirmation was all she needed before beginning to stride forward, the mesmer easily in tow and as they approached the dark, imposing foot print of the cathedral the shield burst forth from her and fended off at least some of the lingering heat.

"Cogs and gears..!" She hissed. There was something very wrong here, and that was only made evident the second they stepped into the building. "Everything's dead. These are soldiers...or what's left of them." She observed, her foot brushing a pile of ash that had been in the shape of a fallen charr, until the disruption caused the whole lingering structure to crumble. "I would make commentary about you wearing white to a battleground, Ms. Prissy....again. But I think you get my point." War mused as she looked back to Naomi with a pointed look.