The mysterious case of the broken cannon ^w^

Well now wasn't this nice? Ariannah blinked until her eyes had gotten used to the new light and then twice more till she saw who was there. Damian. Well, at least not a complete stranger. That was good.

"I take it you're not a morning person."

"You have a strange understanding of 'morning'", she growled, climbing up the last bit of debris, sitting down on the edge next to Damian. Well kinda. Sitting is an overstatement. She just lay there, head on the dirty floor and totally frustrated.

"Why the hell do you have a hammer?"

"That big one? I don't even know. They just gave it to me when they saw I didn't have a weapon for close combat. It's useless though. And waaaay to heavy to climb these flipping rocks. But I'm not here for climbing and complaining, I'm here to repair your damn cannon. What happened?" Ariannah forced herself to get up and smile. Well, sort of smile. It was to early to smile. But she wasn't looking all angry anymore. That's something, right?

If he now tells me it just broke I think I'll try that hammer again... This climb was hooooorrible. I want a bed. Right now.

With her thoughts already drifting back to her warm bed in the Academy Ariannah removed the dust from her clothes and checked if it was still mostly intact. Oh hey, the colors actually matched. That was nice. Further examinations showed that she had bruised both her knees, but nothing too bad. Well the pair of pants she was wearing was dirty and torn and her simple blue sweater had some additional holes too.

Great, I look like a hobo-blacksmith. Ain't I a lucky girl? Uuugh. I liked those paaants...

Ariannah listened to Damians story of the Nemesi and just shook her head. Who had taught those morons to use a cannon? That person should be fired. Seriously. Those soldiers too. What were they thinking?! Nothing at all?

After the official had left again Ariannah raised an eyebrow. "You are most definitly an army person. That was reaaaally strange. Reaaaaally strange. Changing from tired to all army-like and tired again. And yes, light would be appreciated. Considering my blind climbing has pretty much ruined this pair of pants. I liked these pants." She frowned as she continued her climbing. With the hammer. She wasn't going to just loose it somewhere. That would be irresponsible. She wasn't irresponsible. Well... Most of the time.

When she reached the cannon her jaw dropped. That cannon wasn't just broken. It was ruined. Well... it looked ruined, with Nemesisblood and spit all over. And bite and clawmarks. She shook her head before she mumbled a short "Hey..." to the other people around. Examining the deformities and laying out her little bit of equipment on the ground next to her.

"This will take a while. You pretty much ruined this. But I'll see what I can do. Just don't expect a miracle. Someone get me a lantern please. I'll need to see what you messed up here", she said, trying to sound at least a little bit professional.

---

(( it's short and meh and meh and short and I don't knoooooooow))

"What, besides their brains?"

Ariannah chuckled at that. Further examination of the cannon showed her that at least the mechanism wasn't completely ruined. She let out a relieved sigh. So repairing it was possible, even with her limited knowledge of cannons. But sadly not with her limited equipment.

"Think it's fixable?"

Ariannah nodded. "Should be. But I need... a thingymabob and some other materials. Which I don't have. So we need to climb back down, run back to the main base and get those things. Without dying or being to badly injured to carry that stuff back. And since I forgot the name of the thingymabob, I can't sent some of you alone while starting what I can do without those things. GREAT!" The red head got up again, picking up her equipment.

"Damian, would you accompany me? I don't trust those cannon-destroyers to not ruin the other equipment we have..." She put on the best smile she could at this early hour. Which wasn't very good at all, but the thought counts, right? Taking Damian with her would not only ensure her safety, since he was actually able to defend himself with the weapons he had, but also offer her the opportunity to TALK to someone. Like about her training. Or food. Like... cake. Or muffins. Or ginormous cupcakes of DOOM!

Food would be nice right about now... Really nice... Great, now I'm hungry. Stupid mindpicture cakes.

Procedure and stuff. Good thing I'm just the blacksmith here. Stuff like that- totes not my cup of tea. How does he stay sane with all those... restrictions and all? Restrictions with costs and all are bad enough. Uuuugh cost restrictions.

She rolled her eyes at his salute -like seriously, who could change their behaviour like that in the blink of an eye? That was sooooo two-faced! Who does that, being nothing like theirself on flipping purpose because they want to?!- , quickly looking another way as he came back.

"I have no idea where we're going, so you'll have to guide me there, since you presumably know the way. Lead the way."

"eeer... That way. Back to the main defense point, with all the medical tents and that stuff. Yeah. Means more fantastic climbing. woooh-flipping-hooo." The thought of climbing and going all the way back made her cringe a little, considering that even though it was just a few scratches her knees hurt with every step she took. And then all of her muscles aching. Uuugh. She just hoped there wouldn't be any classes lateron. Or for the whole week. So she could de-hurt-ify herself. By not moving for about 3 days. Yeah, that sounded really inviting right about now. But nooo, she had to get cannon materials and that thingymabob to fix the damage those soldiers had done. And who would be remembered for their "dedication to the cause"? Those guys. And maybe "the brave students of the academy". Which meant those that fought and saved lives and all, not the errant running blacksmith girl. Nope. But she wasn't going to complain. Well, not out loud. In the end her chances of surviving were much higher than those of the Blades or Reapers or Shadowseekers.

Shadowseekers... Are those guys from the drill, that thought this all to be a joke are still alive? Yeah probably. Strange people... Yes, Ariannah had found out later, after her fellow companions in the forges had cleaned up most of the mistlings and she had just hit some of those creatures in the face with that destroyed weapon of hers, that that girl and that guy were both Shadowseekers. Which she thought was pretty alarming, considering Shadowseekers were supposed to be all silent and watching and stuff - well, that's what she understood of that. Ariannah had never been the most religious person in Atlantis. That meaning she questioned the existence of those 'Dragons' .

Back in the present however she wasn't thinking about that. She was climbing down that pile of debris she had climbed up minutes before. Now with light and a companion. Which was an improvement to the way up. "So... what have you been up to since... last week? Should be... sorry, my sense of time is horrible" she asked, trying to start some small-talk to entertain her. And because she haaated the silence. Silence was boring.

(( Kyv, I'm sorry if this is horrible. This has been written for... 3 hours? so yeah. Lots of distractions. if it's too bad ask me what I meant so I can make it more normal sounding or something. Or just ignore the middle part of me trying to be all creative for what could happen next, if people are fine with it. I think I tried to be creative. I forget. My Ariannah writing style is invading my brain))